Micro-tribological characteristics of PFPE Zdol lubricant coated on silicon

Abstract

The reliability problem is crucial in micro-systems. In order to increase the reliability and durability, new lubrication is needed since conventional lubricant cannot be used in the micro-system. In this work, the fundamental tribological characteristics of perfluoropolyether (PFPE) Fomblin Zdol lubricants with different thickness coated on silicon by dip coating method were investigated. The Zdol lubricant was characterized by ellipsometry, contact angle measurement, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and atomic force microscope (AFM). Especially, characteristics of unbonded Zdol films were compared with that of bonded Zdol films from the view point of stiction and friction. As a result, optimum thickness of unbonded as well as bonded Zdol film was proposed. Also, it was found that the Zdol films with only bonded fraction had lower stiction/friction coefficient than the Zdol film with unbonded and bonded fraction