Friction and wear in surface-micromachined tribological test devices

We report on the design, construction, and initial testing of surface micromachined devices for the measurement of friction and wear. The devices measure friction coefficients on both horizontal deposited polysilicon surfaces and vertical etched polysilicon surfaces. The contact geometry of the rubbing surfaces is well-defined, and a method is presented for the determination of the normal and frictional forces. Initial observations on test devices which have been dried with supercritical CO2 and devices coated with octadecyltrichlorosilane suggest that the coatings increase the lifetime of the devices and the repeatability of the results.