AVS 50th International Symposium
    Nanometer Structures Wednesday Sessions
       Session NS-WeA

Paper NS-WeA4
Impact of Atomic Corrugation on Sliding Friction as Probed by QCM

Wednesday, November 5, 2003, 3:00 pm, Room 308

Session: Nanotribology
Presenter: T. Coffey, North Carolina State University
Authors: T. Coffey, North Carolina State University
S.M. Winder, University of South Carolina
J. Krim, North Carolina State University
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At the atomic scale, friction is believed to originate primarily via sliding induced excitation of phonons.@footnote 1@ Theoretical predictions of the magnitude of phononic dissipation have been related to the atomic corrugation of the adsorbate/substrate potential.@footnote 2@ Using the Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM), we have measured the sliding friction of xenon adsorbed at 77 K onto three different surfaces. From lowest to highest atomic corrugation of the adsorbate/substrate potential, the surfaces are: Ag(111), Cu(111), and Ni(111). The QCM probe of sliding friction is the sliptime, which measures the slippage of the adsorbate atop the oscillating surface of the QCM.@footnote 3@ For monolayer coverages, we observed the following sliptimes: 2 ns for Xe/Ag(111), 1 ns for Xe/Cu(111), and 0.5 ns for Xe/Ni(111). We compare our sliptime results to published values of the atomic corrugation for these systems. We also discuss theoretical predictions for the impact of atomic corrugation on sliding friction. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@ Fundamentals of Friction; Macroscopic and Microscopic Processes, ed. I.L. Singer and H.M. Pollock, Kluwer, Dordrecht (1992).@footnote 2@ M. Cieplak, E.D. Smith, and M.O. Robbins, Science 265, 1209 (1994)@footnote 3@ J. Krim and A. Widom, Phys. Rev. B 38, 12184 (1986).