As tribological properties are critical factors in the reliability of microelectromechanical systems, it is important to
understand the physical processes and parameters governing wear and friction in silicon structural films. Dynamic
friction, wear volumes and wear morphology have been studied for polysilicon devices from the Sandia SUMMiT VTM
process actuated in ambient air at μN loads. A total of seven devices were tested. Roughly half of the devices showed a
peak in the friction coefficient at three times the initial value with failure after 105 cycles. The other half of the devices
behaved similarly initially; however, following the friction coefficient peak they displayed a lower steady-state friction
regime with no failure for millions of cycles. Additionally, the nanoscale wear coefficient and roughness increased in the
first ~105 cycles and then slowly decayed over several million cycles. Transmission electron microscopy studies revealed
amorphous oxygen-rich debris. These measurements show that after a short adhesive wear regime, abrasive wear is the
governing mechanism with failures attributed to differences in the local nanoscale surface morphology. Changing the
relative humidity, sliding speed and load was found to influence the friction coefficient, but re-oxidation of worn
polysilicon surfaces was only found to have an effect after periods of inactivity.
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