Effects of the irradiation dose on surface nanostructuring accompanied with the dewetting process of Au films deposited on SiO2 glass were examined using an atomic force microscope and a scanning electron microscope. In addition, the microstructural evolution and the chemical concentration of Au films were investigated using a transmission electron microscope equipped with an energy-dispersive spectrometer. As increasing the Ar ion irradiation dose, the lattice expansion of Au nanoscale islands sustained on the SiO2 glass was observed and irradiation-induced lattice defects together with irradiation-induced interface ion mixing were accounted for this lattice expansion. Finally a layer of photosensitive Au nanoballs with highly spherical shape embedded in a SiO2 substrate was obtained after Ar ion irradiation to 10.0 x 10(16)/cm(2) and some of Au nanoballs were found to be single crystals. As the irradiation energy of the Ar ions increased from 100 to 150 keV, the average diameter of the Au nanoballs in the substrate increased and the red shift of the SPR peak was observed. This tendency of the experimental SPR peaks corresponded with that of the theoretically calculated SPR peaks using Mie solution.