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.