Studies on measuring surface adhesion between sidewalls in boron doped ultrananocrystalline diamond based microelectromechanical devices

Abstract In this study, we have investigated the adhesion phenomena between two sidewalls in boron-doped ultrananocrystalline diamond (B-UNCD) micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS) in a humid and dry environment. We have developed and built B-UNCD MEMS test devices, in order to assess the tribological properties of diamond micro devices in-situ. Using these devices, we have been able to measure the adhesion force with approximately 15 ]-->nN resolution, by monitoring the displacement optically with a precision of 4 nm. In the case of testing in a dry atmosphere, virtually no adhesion (