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Nanotribology and Wettability of Molecularly Thin Film

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Nano-tribology and Materials in MEMS

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Abstract

The micro/nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) have received rapid development in the past decades due to their superior performance and low unit cost. However, large surface area-to-volume ratio causes serious adhesive and frictional problems for MEMS operations. Nanotribology is a study of the interaction between contact surfaces at nanoscale, from chemistry and physics to material science and mechanical engineering, and is of extreme technological importance to the application and development of MEMS. This chapter will attempt to cover the range from preparation of organic thin films to instruments and measurement protocols. We will describe this process in steps. The preparation of thin film materials (i.e., ionic liquids, multiply-alkylated cyclopentane or self-assembled molecules) and film deposition are presented. Also, the methods of film evaporation are considered. We examined the relationship of adhesion and lateral force data to their fundamental aspects at molecular level. The main objective will be to provide more thorough examination to the interested reader, and to provide a source to further raise the critical issues concerning the relationship between surface properties and MEMS application. Fluorinated molecules with coplanar structure were successfully self-assembled onto silicon surface. The fluorinated monolayers possessed excellent adhesion-resistance, friction-reduction and anti-wear durability, which were attributed to low interfacial energy of end group and dual layer structure of the films. The spatial distribution of the multi-component film was evaluated by adhesion statistic measurement. Multialkylated cyclopentanes (MACs) are potential lubricants for space and MEMS application due to their extreme low volatility. A series of MACs were synthesized by Dean-Stark trap, autoclave, and phase transfer catalysis methods. Nanoscale dual-layer films consisting of both MACs and self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) were prepared and their morphology, wettability and tribological properties were investigated. Molecularly thin ILs films with different molecular structures which showed excellent tribological performance were designed, synthesized and prepared successfully on silicon surface by dip-coating method. The influences of anion, cation and post-treatment on wettability and tribological properties of ILs films were investigated systematically. To enhance the wettability and to improve the nanotribology of nano films, surface texture technique is reviewed. Regular and biomimetic surface textures were fabricated by local anodic oxidation (LAO). Dimension of the pillars were precisely controlled by operation parameters such as pulse bias voltage, pulse width and humidity. The H-passivated Si showed higher growth rate and thicker saturated oxide film than common p- or n-type Si under the same oxidation condition. The H-passivated Si employed in LAO process can improve lateral resolution of patterns. The adhesive and friction force of LAO pattern were measured by AFM colloidal probe. The friction forces are closely related to the surface coverage of the nanotexture. The results indicate that nanotextures significantly reduced the friction force, while H-passivated Si showed large friction force, this is because of the less adhesive energy dissipated during sliding on textured surface. The surface nanotextures of biological origins were fully duplicated on surface based on duplication method. The morphology and the size of the surface textures of the replicas are almost in accordance with their biological sources. The wettability of the surfaces was improved with hydrophobicity after duplicating with textures. And the biomimetic textures have shown to improve nanotribological performance.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Grant No. 11172300 and 51105352. Prof. Mingwu Bai and Prof. Qunji Xue are greatly acknowledged for their constant support and encouragements to carry out this research work. The authors want to express their sincere gratitude to Dr. Chongjun Pang, Dr. Jianqi Ma, Dr. Min Zhu, Dr. Wenjie Zhao, Dr. Ying Wang, Dr. Jibin Pu for their great efforts and valuable discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, P. R. China

    Yufei Mo & Liping Wang

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  1. Yufei Mo
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Correspondence to Liping Wang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India

    Sujeet K. Sinha

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    N. Satyanarayana

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Seh Chun Lim

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Mo, Y., Wang, L. (2013). Nanotribology and Wettability of Molecularly Thin Film. In: Sinha, S., Satyanarayana, N., Lim, S. (eds) Nano-tribology and Materials in MEMS. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36935-3_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36935-3_3

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