Scaling Issues in the Measurement of Monolayer Films

Published

January 1, 2001

Author(s)

Stephen M. Hsu, P M. McGuiggan, J Zhang, Y L. Wang, F Yin, Y P. Yeh, Richard S. Gates

Abstract

An atomic force microscope (AFM), a surface forces apparatus (SFA), and a ball-on-inclined plane (BOIP) apparatus were used to measure the mechanical properties of thin films. The frictional force (lateral resistance) of a set of four samples with different chemistries was measured by an AFM using a conventional sharp silicon nitride tip. Very little difference was observed among the different chemistries. A careful study using different tip sizes on two model compounds on mica and comparing the results with the SFA suggested a tip size effect (scaling issue).A systematic test protocol was then developed to measure the adhesive strength and durability of nanometer films to thick films. A one-pass ball-on-inclined plane test was used to measure the adhesive strength of various chemical films. A high-speed version of the ball-on-inclined plane was then used to measure the durability of these films. Successful measurements depend on controlling the relative surface roughness down to the nanometer scale even though the test itself is at the mm scale.

Citation

NATO Conference Proceedings

Volume

10

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

AFM, friction of thin films, measurement, surface forces apparatus

Citation

Hsu, S. , McGuiggan, P. , Zhang, J. , Wang, Y. , Yin, F. , Yeh, Y. and Gates, R. (2001), Scaling Issues in the Measurement of Monolayer Films, NATO Conference Proceedings (Accessed December 11, 2025)