An arc‐heated source for producing an intense nitrogen atom beam with intensity of 1019atoms/sr s and kinetic energies of 0.5–4 eV is presented. The arc discharge has been carried out in pure nitrogen gas and maintained stable in an arc operating pressure of 30–300 Torr. The beam kinetic energy changes with the arc pressure, and is insensitive to the arc current. Auger electron spectroscopy analysis showed that a TiNO layer with a thickness of about 100 A˚ was formed on the smooth Ti wafer at room temperature with interaction of the atomic nitrogen beam. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.