Connected-type microtribotester and its design

An on-chip microtribotester was developed to simulate the friction and wear properties on lateral contact surfaces of single crystal silicon based MEMS devices. In this system, the loading structure, frictional pair and force sensors are all integrated on a single chip using bulk silicon processing and bonding technologies. The critical driving voltage, static friction force and normal force are all calculated theoretically. The static frictional coefficient of the tribotester was then measured under a microscope to show that the static frictional coefficient decreases with increasing normal force.