Dynamics and Spreading of pentanol and other alcohols for MEMS applications

Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) have the potential to revolutionize widespread technologies, but tribological issues are currently preventing commercialization of some devices. Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), while highly effective against release related stiction, are ineffective as MEMS lubricants [1]. Vapor phase lubrication has been proposed as a solution to the issue of tribological failure in MEMS with alcohol vapors attracting much interest. In an effort to understand the basic mechanisms of lubrication we have performed a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) study of the uptake, sliding friction, and spreading rates of adsorbed alcohols on silicon and SAM treated substrates. [1] D. A. Hook, S. J. Timpe, M. T. Dugger, and J. Krim. \textit{Tribological degradation of fluorocarbon coated silicon microdevice surfaces in normal and sliding contact. }J. Applied Physics \textbf{104} (2008).