Micro-Friction and Adhesion Measurements for Si Wafer and TiB2 Thin Film

An apparatus was specifically developed for micro-friction and adhesion measurements. The force measurement range is 10-2000 μN with a horizontal speed of 10-400 μm/s. The apparatus was tested using a 0.7-mm diameter steel ball as the upper specimen to measure the micro friction and adhesion behaviour of a Si (100) wafer and a TiB2 film. The effects of rest time, speed, and load were studied. The results show that the maximum static and sliding friction forces of both the Si (100) wafer and the TiB2 film increase with the load. At low speeds, the influence of speed on the friction force is significant. The adhesion forces of the Si (100) wafer and the TiB2 film increase with rest time, reaching stable values after about 3000 s. The TiB2 film has significantly less adhesion and micro friction forces than the Si (100) wafer.