An investigation of the experimental conditions and characteristics of a nano-wear test

Abstract

A point contact microscope (PCM) is used to conduct nano-wear tests that can characterize the wear durability of ultra thin films (5 nm-1000 nm) and micromachine parts. The test procedures are described in detail. The descriptive characterization parameters are defined as wear depth or critical wear cycle. The test has nanometer and nano-Newton resolution with good repeatability, and it is able to evaluate the tribological properties of thin films without the outside influence of geometry or distortion effects from the substrate. Nano-wear tests on a gold (Au) film show that the experimental conditions, including loading force, number of scan cycles, scan speed, scan pitch and tip type have significant influence on the test results. Therefore, this method is a relative characterization method, i.e. it is useful for comparing the relative wear durability of different materials under the same test conditions.