Ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) has been successfully used to produce a dense ultra-adherent and pinhole-free hydroxyapatite (HAp) layer on alumina substrates. After deposition the HAp-coated alumina was immersed in 20 ppm and 100 ppm AgNO3 solution to carry out the ion exchange between Ag1 and Ca21 in HAp. An obvious antimicrobial effect against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis was observed in the samples treated with 20 ppm AgNO3 solution. In contrast to this, the untreated samples did not show any bactericidal effect. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies showed that Ag-rich phases were homogeneously distributed on the surface. X-ray diffraction (XRD) demonstrated that the surface structure in the samples without Ag was HAp, whereas with Ag it is HAp and AgCaP. The minimum inhibitory concentration of AgNO3 was measured to be 1.302 mg/ml. The release of Ag1 ions from the Ag-HAp