Jayalakshmi Subramanian, Arvind Singh Ramachandra*, Ankush Raina, Mir Irfan Ul Haq, Sanjay Mohan Sharma and Xizhang Chen Pages 1 - 5 ( 5 )
Background: Tribological issues severely confound smooth operation of moving elements in actuators-based miniaturized devices e.g. micro-electro-mechanical systems. At micro/nano scales, surface forces namely adhesion and friction manifest strongly and oppose relative mechanical motion of actuator elements. Topographical modification of sur-faces via surface patterning has emerged as a potential route to mitigate surface forces at small-scales.
Methods: Capillary force lithography is a simple yet robust technique to fabricate polymer nanostructures with varying shapes/sizes. This paper presents a brief review on the capillary force lithography technique, its salient features and tribo-logical performance of nanostructures fabricated by the technique.
Conclusion: Capillary force lithography has several attractive salient features, in particular the ability of the technique to create polymer nanopatterns of varying shapes/sizes without the need for molds with different shapes/sizes. Polymer nanostructures fabricated by the technique effectively reduce surface forces at micro/nano-scales, and are of interest for tribological application in small-scale devices.
Micro/nano devices, capillary force lithography, polymer, nanopatterns, adhesion, friction
School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325035,, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325035,, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Jammu & Kashmir 182320,, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Jammu & Kashmir 182320,, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Jammu & Kashmir 182320,, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325035