Target current measurements were used to determine ion-induced electron yields γ of silicon bombarded with 2–10 keV N + 2 ions at impact angles θ between 0° (normal incidence) and 84°, both for sputter-cleaned samples and under conditions of full loading with nitrogen. At normal incidence, the electron yields of nitrogen saturated samples γ sat 0 were much higher than the yields γ 0 0 of clean samples. The ratios r 0= γ sat 0/ γ 0 0 decreased with increasing energy, from ∼9 at 2 keV to ∼6 at 10 keV. This energy dependence of r 0 is attributed to preferential loss of nitrogen. With increasing impact angle, the yields of nitrogen-saturated samples first increased and then decreased rather rapidly at some critical angle θ c. After having passed through a minimum between 50° (10 keV) and 70° (2 keV) the stationary yields increased in a manner similar to the yields of clean silicon. Compared with O + 2 bombardment, several important differences were observed with primary N + 2 ions. (i) The fall-off in electron yield occurred at larger angles the higher the beam energy, 25–27° at 2 keV and 30–32° at 10 keV, the half-width of the fall-off being independent of the energy. (ii) Even at the most oblique impact angles the stationary yields were significantly higher than with clean silicon (12–26% higher at 80°). (iii) There was no correlation of θ c with the angles at which the sputtering yield equals the silicon-to-nitrogen ratio of Si 3N 4, i.e. Y=3/4 Si atoms/N atom. (iv) At oblique N + 2 incidence, i.e. between ∼38 and ∼75°, ripples started to grow at rather small depths of erosion, as low as 30 nm at 5 keV (topography of crater bottoms investigated by atomic force microscopy). Ripple formation strongly enhances the electron yields. The results are discussed with reference to the very low mobility of nitrogen in Si 3N 4 which allows ‘supersaturation’ of the sample within the range of the implanted ions.