Adhesion work analysis through molecular modeling and wetting angle measurement

•Molecular modelling was applied for calculation of the work of adhesion.•Two computational methods based on wetting angle and surface tension analysis were used.•The corresponding numerical analysis results were compared with the experimental ones.

The above paper contains a description of the numerical and experimental analysis in order to evaluate the adhesion work. The goal was to calculate the work of the adhesion between solutions of water, isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and silicon. The work of adhesion was calculated by using two computational methods and were compared with the experimental results based on a wetting angle measurement. The surfactants, as solution of water with IPA, are used in a process of silicon etching. The presented analysis could help in better understanding of the adhesion phenomena, which can result in improvement of silicon etching and the same can lead to higher quality of, e.g. MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) devices, as well as reduce their production cost. The numerical analysis of the adhesion work is a challenge, where wetting angle and other methods are used in order to determine the adhesion work between for example IPA and silicon.