Simultaneous Measurement of Elastic Properties and Friction Characteristics of Nanowires Using Atomic Force Microscopy

Understanding of the mechanical properties and friction characteristics of nanowires (NW) with a one-dimensional structure is of great importance for the reliability of their applications involving mechanical interactions, such as contact and relative motion during operation. In this work, the lateral manipulation of a SiO NW with a fixed end and a free end on Si (100) substrate was performed using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Considering an AFM tip-NW-substrate contact system, a model based on the beam theory was proposed to simultaneously obtain both the elastic modulus and the friction characteristics of NWs. The results showed that the elastic moduli of the SiO NWs determined from the lateral manipulation are generally similar to those determined from CR-AFM, in the range of the reported values of SiO NWs. The friction per unit length of the SiO NW slid against Si (100) varied from 0.15 N/m to 0.68 N/m. Furthermore, the length dependence of friction was not clearly observed, which suggests that contacting asperities at the nano-scale may not increase significantly as the length of the NW increases.