Effect of fluorocarbon self-assembled monolayer films on sidewall adhesion and friction of surface micromachines with impacting and sliding contact interfaces

A self-assembled monolayer film consisting of fluoro-octyltrichlorosilane (FOTS) was vapor-phase deposited on Si(100) substrates and polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) surface micromachines. The hydrophobic behavior and structural composition of the FOTS film deposited on Si(100) were investigated by goniometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. The effects of contact pressure, relative humidity, temperature, and impact/sliding cycles on the adhesive and friction behavior of uncoated and FOTS-coated polysilicon micromachines (referred to as the Si and FOTS/Si micromachines, respectively) were investigated under controlled loading and environmental conditions. FOTS/Si micromachines demonstrated much lower and stable adhesion than Si micromachines due to the highly hydrophobic and conformal FOTS film. Contrary to Si micromachines, sidewall adhesion of FOTS/Si micromachines demonstrated a weak dependence on relative humidity, temperature, and impact cycles. In addition, FOTS/Si micromachines showed low and stable adhesion and low static friction for significantly more sliding cycles than Si micromachines. The adhesive and static friction characteristics of Si and FOTS/Si micromachines are interpreted in the context of physicochemical surface changes, resulting in the increase of the real area of contact and a hydrophobic-to-hydrophilic transition of the surface chemical characteristics caused by nanoscale surface smoothening and the removal of the organic residue (Si micromachines) or the FOTS film (FOTS/Si micromachines) during repetitive impact and oscillatory sliding of the sidewall surfaces.