CAREER: Nano-Engineered Surfaces: Fabrication and Mechanical and Tribological Properties

微型机电系统(MEMS)有望为从汽车到生物医学的几乎所有产品类别带来革命性的变化。然而，由于摩擦学问题阻碍了这种装置的高效和可靠，灾难性的故障经常发生。这一职业发展计划的目标是建立纳米工程表面(NESS)的综合研究和教育计划，用于微型化系统(如MEMS)中的摩擦学应用。研究一种新型的与MEMS工艺兼容的纳米表面工程工艺，以制备多种纳米形貌工程表面。这些独特的NTES将用自组装单分子膜(SAM)和纳米级润滑剂进行修饰，以提供Ness优异的摩擦学性能，从而为困扰MEMS摩擦学问题提供解决方案。这项研究的具体目标是：1)了解和控制新的纳米表面工程工艺，以制造具有可控纳米形貌的表面；2)开发将纳米级润滑剂应用于NTES的工艺；3)研究纳米润滑剂的摩擦学和润湿性能，并将这些性能与表面形貌和化学特性关联起来。拟议项目的成功将通过提高两个数十亿美元/年的行业的产品可靠性而造福社会：MEMS和计算机硬盘驱动行业。它还将使纳米表面工程不仅用于摩擦学应用，还将用于疏水和生物医学应用。这项研究提供了大量的机会来培训学生，特别是妇女和少数民族，在新兴的纳米制造和纳米摩擦学领域。通过莲花效应示范单位开展的外展活动将提高高中生对工程专业的认识和兴趣。

Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) hold great promise to revolutionize nearly every product category, from automotive to biomedical. However, catastrophic failures often occur due to tribological issues preventing such devices from being efficient and reliable. The goal of this career-development plan is to establish an integrated research and education program in nano-engineered-surfaces (NESs) for tribological applications in miniaturized systems, such as MEMS. A novel MEMS process compatible nano-surface-engineering process will be studied to produce a wide range of nano-topography-engineered surfaces (NTESs). These unique NTESs will be modified with self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) and nanoscale lubricants to provide superior tribological performances of the NESs, thus providing solutions to plaguing MEMS tribology issues. The specific objectives of the proposed research are to 1) understand and control the new nano-surface-engineering process to produce surfaces with controllable nano-topographies, 2) develop processes to apply nanoscale lubricants to the NTESs, and 3) study the tribological and wetting properties of the NESs and correlate these properties to surface topography and chemistry. The success of the proposed project will benefit society through increased product reliability of two multi-billion dollar/year industries: MEMS and computer hard drive industries. It will also enable nano-surface-engineering for hydrophobic and biomedical applications beyond tribological applications. This research offers abundant opportunities to train students, especially women and minorities, in the emerging fields of nanomanufacturing and nanotribology. The outreach activities through the Lotus-Effect Demonstration Unit will increase high school students' awareness of and interest in the engineering profession.