Nalam Satyanarayana

Tribology of PFPE overcoated self-assembled monolayers deposited on Si surface

Friction and wear characteristics of monomolecular layers of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) with and without perfluoropolyether (PFPE) overcoat were studied using ball-on-disk experiments. Ultra-thin layer of PFPE was dip-coated onto two different SAMs, one with non-reactive terminal group (octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS)) and the other with reactive terminal group (3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTMS)), which were formed on Si substrate by self-assembly. The effects of PFPE overcoating on physical and chemical properties were evaluated using contact angle measurement and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. For a comparison, PFPE was also coated onto the Si surface and their properties were evaluated. All PFPE modified surfaces were baked at 150uC for 2 h, to investigate the effect of thermal treatment on tribological properties. PFPE coating has shown higher water contact angles irrespective of the SAM surface. Coating of PFPE on both SAM surfaces has lowered their coefficients of friction. PFPE overcoating has shown remarkable increase in the wear resistance when it was coated on reactive APTMS SAM and little increase on OTS SAM. Thermal treatment after PFPE coating onto SAMs further reduced the coefficient of friction to a smaller extent. Moreover, thermal treatment has shown an additional increase in wear-life by approximately 30% in the case of PFPE coated APTMS SAM surface and a decrease in the wear-life in the case of PFPE coated OTS SAM. The reasons for these observed phenomena are explained in terms of the amounts of PFPE bonded or mobile, surface energies of SAMs, uniformity and molecular packing of SAM surfaces. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

Understanding the Role of Nitrogen in Plasma-Assisted Surface Modification of Magnetic Recording Media with and without Ultrathin Carbon Overcoats

A novel scheme of pre-surface modification of media using mixed argon-nitrogen plasma is proposed to improve the protection performance of 1.5 nm carbon overcoats (COC) on media produced by a facile pulsed DC sputtering technique. We observe stable and lower friction, higher wear resistance, higher oxidation resistance, and lower surface polarity for the media sample modified in 70%Ar + 30%N2 plasma and possessing 1.5 nm COC as compared to samples prepared using gaseous compositions of 100%Ar and 50%Ar + 50%N2 with 1.5 nm COC. Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results suggest that the surface modification process does not affect the microstructure of the grown COC. Instead, the improved tribological, corrosion-resistant and oxidation-resistant characteristics after 70%Ar + 30%N2 plasma-assisted modification can be attributed to, firstly, the enrichment in surface and interfacial bonding, leading to interfacial strength, and secondly, more effective removal of ambient oxygen from the media surface, leading to stronger adhesion of the COC with media, reduction of media corrosion and oxidation, and surface polarity. Moreover, the tribological, corrosion and surface properties of mixed Ar + N2 plasma treated media with 1.5 nm COCs are found to be comparable or better than ~2.7 nm thick conventional COC in commercial media.

Tribological characterization of a biocompatible thin film of UHMWPE on Ti6Al4V and the effects of PFPE as top lubricating layer

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) thin film was coated onto Ti6Al4V alloy specimens using dip coating method. Tribological performance of this coating (thickness of 19.6 ± 2.0 μm) was evaluated using 4 mm diameter Si(3)N(4) ball counterface in a ball-on-disk tribometer. Tests were carried out for different normal loads (0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 N) and rotational speeds of the disk (200 and 400 rpm). UHMWPE coating formed in this study exhibits high hydrophobicity with water contact angle of 135.5 ± 3.3° and meets the requirements of cytotoxicity test using the ISO 10993-5 elution method. This coating shows low coefficient of friction (0.15) and high wear durability (>96,000 cycles) for the tested conditions. PFPE overcoat on UHMWPE has further increased the wear durability of UHMWPE coating as evaluated at even higher rotational speed of 1000 rpm.

Probing the Role of an Atomically Thin SiNx Interlayer on the Structure of Ultrathin Carbon Films

Filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) processed carbon films are being considered as a promising protective media overcoat material for future hard disk drives (HDDs). However, at ultrathin film levels, FCVA-deposited carbon films show a dramatic change in their structure in terms of loss of sp3 bonding, density, wear resistance etc., compared to their bulk counterpart. We report for the first time how an atomically thin (0.4 nm) silicon nitride (SiNx) interlayer helps in maintaining/improving the sp3 carbon bonding, enhancing interfacial strength/bonding, improving oxidation/corrosion resistance, and strengthening the tribological properties of FCVA-deposited carbon films, even at ultrathin levels (1.2 nm). We propose the role of the SiNx interlayer in preventing the catalytic activity of Co and Pt in media, leading to enhanced sp3C bonding (relative enhancement ~40%). These findings are extremely important in view of the atomic level understanding of structural modification and the development of high density HDDs.

Tribo-functionalizing Si and SU8 materials by surface modification for application in MEMS/NEMS actuator-based devices

Micro/nano-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS/NEMS) are miniaturized devices built at micro/nanoscales. At these scales, the surface/interfacial forces are extremely strong and they adversely affect the smooth operation and the useful operating lifetimes of such devices. When these forces manifest in severe forms, they lead to material removal and thereby reduce the wear durability of the devices. In this paper, we present a simple, yet robust, two-step surface modification method to significantly enhance the tribological performance of MEMS/NEMS materials. The two-step method involves oxygen plasma treatment of polymeric films and the application of a nanolubricant, namely perfluoropolyether. We apply the two-step method to the two most important MEMS/NEMS structural materials, namely silicon and SU8 polymer. On applying surface modification to these materials, their initial coefficient of friction reduces by ~4?7 times and the steady-state coefficient of friction reduces by ~2.5?3.5 times. Simultaneously, the wear durability of both the materials increases by >1000 times. The two-step method is time effective as each of the steps takes the time duration of approximately 1?min. It is also cost effective as the oxygen plasma treatment is a part of the MEMS/NEMS fabrication process. The two-step method can be readily and easily integrated into MEMS/NEMS fabrication processes. It is anticipated that this method will work for any kind of structural material from which MEMS/NEMS are or can be made.

Nanolubrication of poly(methyl methacrylate) films on Si for microelectromechanical systems applications

Polymers, such as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), are important structural materials for microsystems because of their excellent mechanical properties; however, they suffer from severe problems of adhesion, friction, and wear [B. Bhushan, J. N. Israelachvili, and U. Landman, Nature (London) 374, 607 (1995)]. We report a simple process of O2 plasma treatment on a PMMA film, followed by overcoating with an ultrathin layer of perfluoropolyether (PFPE) which improved tribological performance of the film. O2 plasma on PMMA film has formed unique wavy nanotextured surface and increased the hardness and the elastic modulus of the film, which, together with the nanolurbication by PFPE, has increased the wear life of PMMA film by more than five orders of magnitude.

Surface chemical modification for exceptional wear life of MEMS materials

Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) are built at micro/nano-scales. At these scales, the interfacial forces are extremely strong. These forces adversely affect the smooth operation and cause wear resulting in the drastic reduction in wear life (useful operating lifetime) of actuator-based devices. In this paper, we present a surface chemical modification method that reduces friction and significantly extends the wear life of the two most popular MEMS structural materials namely, silicon and SU-8 polymer. The method includes surface chemical treatment using ethanolamine-sodium phosphate buffer, followed by coating of perfluoropolyether (PFPE) nanolubricant on (i) silicon coated with SU-8 thin films (500 nm) and (ii) MEMS process treated SU-8 thick films (50 μm). After the surface chemical modification, it was observed that the steady-state coefficient of friction of the materials reduced by 4 to 5 times and simultaneously their wear durability increased by more than three orders of magnitude (> 1000 ti...

Probing the role of carbon microstructure on the thermal stability and performance of ultrathin (<2 nm) overcoats on L10 FePt media for heat-assisted magnetic recording.

An understanding of the factors influencing the thermal stability of ultrathin carbon overcoats (COCs) is crucial for their application in heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) at densities ≥ 1 Tb/in(2). Two types of non-hydrogenated ultrathin (∼1.5 nm) COCs were investigated after being subjected to laser-induced localized heating (at temperatures > 700 K) as envisaged in HAMR. Filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA)-processed carbon with tuned C(+) ion energies of 350 eV followed by 90 eV provides significantly higher sp(3) C-C hybridization than magnetron sputter deposition even at very low thicknesses of ∼1.5 nm. As a result, the FCVA-deposited ultrathin carbon overcoats displayed excellent thermal stability along with improved wear and corrosion resistance. On the other hand, the sputtered carbon exhibited carbon loss and topographical and structural changes after laser irradiation owing to lower sp(3) hybridization. Therefore, this study highlights the pivotal role of carbon microstructure, primarily sp(3) hybridization, in non-hydrogenated carbon overcoats to maintain excellent thermal stability during the recurring high-temperature cycles in a HAMR process.

Ultrathin Carbon with Interspersed Graphene/Fullerene-like Nanostructures: A Durable Protective Overcoat for High Density Magnetic Storage

One of the key issues for future hard disk drive technology is to design and develop ultrathin (<2 nm) overcoats with excellent wear- and corrosion protection and high thermal stability. Forming carbon overcoats (COCs) having interspersed nanostructures by the filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) process can be an effective approach to achieve the desired target. In this work, by employing a novel bi-level surface modification approach using FCVA, the formation of a high sp3 bonded ultrathin (~1.7 nm) amorphous carbon overcoat with interspersed graphene/fullerene-like nanostructures, grown on magnetic hard disk media, is reported. The in-depth spectroscopic and microscopic analyses by high resolution transmission electron microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, and Raman spectroscopy support the observed findings. Despite a reduction of ~37 % in COC thickness, the FCVA-processed thinner COC (~1.7 nm) shows promising functional performance in terms of lower coefficient of friction (~0.25), higher wear resistance, lower surface energy, excellent hydrophobicity and similar/better oxidation corrosion resistance than current commercial COCs of thickness ~2.7 nm. The surface and tribological properties of FCVA-deposited COC was further improved after deposition of lubricant layer.

Enhanced Tribological, Corrosion, and Microstructural Properties of an Ultrathin (<2 nm) Silicon Nitride/Carbon Bilayer Overcoat for High Density Magnetic Storage

An ultrathin bilayer overcoat of silicon nitride and carbon (SiNx/C) providing low friction, high wear resistance, and high corrosion resistance is proposed for future generation hard disk media. The 16 Å thick SiNx/C overcoat consists of an atomically thin SiNx underlayer (4 Å) and a carbon layer (12 Å), fabricated by reactive magnetron sputtering and filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA), respectively. When compared with monolithic overcoats of FCVA-deposited carbon (16 Å) and sputtered SiNx (16 Å), the SiNx/C bilayer overcoat demonstrated the best tribological performance with a coefficient of friction < 0.2. Despite showing marginally less electrochemical corrosion protection than monolithic SiNx, its ability to protect the magnetic media from corrosion/oxidation was better than that of an ∼27 Å thick commercial hard disk overcoat and 16 Å thick monolithic FCVA-deposited carbon. From X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy analyses, it was found that the introduction of the 4 Å SiNx underlayer facilitated higher sp(3) hybridization within the carbon layer by acting as a barrier and promoted the formation of strong bonds at the SiNx/C and the SiNx/media interfaces by acting as an adhesion layer. The higher sp(3) carbon content is expected to improve the thermal stability of the overcoat, which is extremely important for future hard disk drives employing heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR).