The chemical aspects of nitridated surface of sapphire(0001) have been studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Nitridated layer was formed by remote plasma enhanced-ultrahigh vacuum deposition at a low temperature range. It was confirmed that this nitridated surface was mainly consists of AIN layer. The relative amounts of nitrogen reacted with AL on the sapphire surface and their surface morphology were investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) as a function of radio-frequency power, reaction temperature, and reaction time. The amounts of atomic nitrogen activated by plasma which was subsequently incorporated into sapphire were increased with RF power. But the amounts of nitrogen reacted with AI in sapphire was initially increased and then remained constant. However, the relative amounts of AIN were nearly constant with irrespective of nitridation temperature and time. Furthermore, a depth porfile of nitridated layer with XPS showed that the nitridated surface consisted of three layers with different stoichiometry.