Controlling adhesion between multi-asperity contacting surfaces in MEMS devices by local heating

In this work, we have incorporated heaters in a MEMS device, which allow the in situ local heating of its contacting surfaces. This design offers a promising solution for MEMS devices with contacting components by preventing capillary-induced adhesion. The force of adhesion was assessed by optically measuring in-plane snap-off displacements. We...

Improved analysis and visualization of friction loop data: unraveling the energy dissipation of meso-scale stick–slip motion

In this paper we demonstrate a new method for analyzing and visualizing friction force measurements of meso-scale stick–slip motion, and introduce a method for extracting two separate dissipative energy components. Using a microelectromechanical system tribometer, we execute 2 million reciprocating sliding cycles, during which we measure the...

Dosed carbon precipitation and graphene layer number control on nickel micro-electromechanical systems surfaces

In this paper, we report on the in situ synthesis of graphene layers by means of chemical vapor deposition (CVD), directly on nickel micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) surfaces. We have developed MEMS structures of which the temperature can be increased locally by Joule heating while in a methane environment. For our MEMS structures, the...