Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T10:04:12.339Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the Road to an Atomic- and Molecular-Level Understanding of Friction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

C. Mathew Mate
Get access

Abstract

The following article is an edited transcript based on the MRS Medal presentation given by C. Mathew Mate of IBM Almaden Research Center on November 29, 2001, at the Materials Research Society Fall Meeting in Boston. Mate received the Medal for his “pioneering studies of friction at the atomic and molecular levels.” This presentation describes some of his efforts at understanding friction at the atomic level. The starting point for the author was the invention of the friction force microscope and the first observation of atomic-scale friction in 1987. Soon afterward came other applications of force microscopy, leading toward a greater understanding of friction, lubrication, and wear. These studies also have had an impact on the understanding of lubricant films in disk drives and are now aiding the development of nanoscale devices such as the “molecular raft,” an 8-Å-thick island of squalane floating on a thicker squalane film that could potentially be used to transport nanoscale objects.

Keywords

atomic force microscopyfrictionlubricants.
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 27 , Issue 12 , December 2002 , pp. 967 - 971
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Binnig, G., Quate, C.F., and Gerber, Ch., Phys. Rev. Lett. 56 (1986) p. 930.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Mate, C.M., McClelland, G.M., Erlandsson, R., and Chiang, S., Phys. Rev. Lett. 59 (1987) p. 1942.Google Scholar
3.Rugar, D., Mamin, H.J., Erlandsson, R., Stern, J.E., and Terris, B.D., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 59 (1988) p. 2337.Google Scholar
4.Blackman, G.S., Mate, C.M., and Philpott, M.R., Phys. Rev. Lett. 65 (1990) p. 2270.Google Scholar
5.Blackman, G.S., Mate, C.M., and Philpott, M.R., Vacuum 41 (1990) p. 1283.Google Scholar
6.Mate, C.M., Lorenz, M.R., and Novotny, V.J., J. Chem. Phys. 90 (1989) p. 7550.Google Scholar
7.Mate, C.M., Erlandsson, R., and McClelland, G.M., Surf. Sci. 208 (1989) p. 473.Google Scholar
8.Derjaguin, B.V. and Churaev, N.V., J. Colloid Interface Sci. 49 (1974) p. 249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Akamine, S.K., Barrett, R.C., and Quate, C.F., Appl. Phys. Lett. 57 (1990) p. 316.Google Scholar
10.Meyer, G. and Amer, N.M., Appl. Phys. Lett. 57 (1990) p. 2089.Google Scholar
11.Muser, M.H., Wenning, L., and Robbins, M.O., Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 (2001) p. 1295.Google Scholar
12.Feynman, R.P., Eng. Sci. 23 (1960) p. 22.Google Scholar
13.Mate, C.M. and Marchon, B., Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 (2000) p. 3902.Google Scholar