Quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques were employed to study the first stages of ultra-high vacuum plasma nitriding of the 42CrMo4 steel. At constant treatment temperature, maintained for all samples at about 360 degrees C, we have established the influence of treatment time on the chemical composition, thickness and electrical properties of the nitrided layer. In this purpose it was used a stacking atomic layer model describing the sample surface, which takes into account the attenuation depth of photoelectrons by the atomic monolayers. So, we have found that after 2 h of nitriding in laboratory conditions, 70% of the nitrided layer was composed of iron oxide. Also, I-V measurements indicate an influence of the nitride overlayer with increasing treatment time. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.