Optimal roughness for minimal adhesion

Roughness has a significant affect on adhesion. The authors used a single-asperity model to describe a smooth tip in contact with a rough surface and predicted that an optimal size of asperity yields a minimum of adhesion. Experimentally, adhesive forces on silicon wafers with varying roughness were...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters 2007-07, Vol.91 (4), p.043107-043107-3
Main Authors: Liu, D.-L., Martin, J., Burnham, N. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Roughness has a significant affect on adhesion. The authors used a single-asperity model to describe a smooth tip in contact with a rough surface and predicted that an optimal size of asperity yields a minimum of adhesion. Experimentally, adhesive forces on silicon wafers with varying roughness were measured using atomic-force-microscopy cantilevers with varying tip radii. It was found that minima do exist, and for all tip radii, the adhesion falls significantly for roughness greater than 1 - 2 nm and drops at higher roughness for larger tips. This work should help minimize stiction in microelectromechanical systems and progress the understanding of nanoscale-contact mechanics.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.2763981