Cycling of a micromechanical switch with gold-on-gold contacts demonstrates that the contact resistance decreases and the adherence force increases. An experimental setup using a Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM) is allowing the fundamental physics of this behavior to be better understood. The setup includes two side-by-side cantilevers — one of high stiffness which applies the repeated loading and the other a standard profiling cantilever allowing in-situ measurements of topographical changes.
Volume Subject Area:
Special Symposia on Contact Mechanics
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