The role of polymer formation during vapor phase lubrication of silicon
The lubrication of silicon surfaces with alcohol vapors has recently been demonstrated. With a sufficient concentration of pentanol vapor present, sliding of a silica ball on an oxidized silicon wafer can proceed with no measurable wear. The initial results of time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) analysis of wear surfaces revealed a reaction product having thickness on the order of a monolayer, and with an ion spectrum that included fragments having molecular weights of 200 or more that occurred only inside the wear tracks. The parent alcohol molecule pentanol, has molecular weight of 88amu, suggesting that reactions of adsorbed alcohols on the wearing surfaces allowed polymerization of the alcohols to form higher molecular weight species. In addition to pin-on-disk studies, lubrication of silicon surfaces with pentanol vapors has also been demonstrated using MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) devices. Recent investigations of the reaction mechanisms of the alcohol molecules with the oxidized silicon surfaces have shown that wearless sliding requires a concentration of the alcohol vapor that is dependent upon the contact stress during sliding, with higher stress requiring a greater concentration of alcohol. Different vapor precursors including those with acid functionality, olefins, and methyl termination also produce polymeric reaction products, and can lubricate the silica surfaces. Doping the operating environment with oxygen was found to quench the formation of the polymeric reaction product, and demonstrates that polymer formation is not necessary for wearless sliding.