Wettability and surface forces measured by atomic force microscopy: the role of roughness

Issue		Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. Volume 48, Number 1, October 2009


Article Number		10504
Number of page(s)		5
Section		Surfaces, Interfaces and Films
DOI		10.1051/epjap/2009120
Published online		04 July 2009

Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 48, 10504 (2009)
DOI: 10.1051/epjap/2009120

Wettability and surface forces measured by atomic force microscopy: the role of roughness

J. Gavoille, J. Takadoum, N. Martin and D. Durand

FEMTO-ST. CNRS, Université de Franche-Comté, ENSMM, UTBM, 26 chemin de l'épitaphe, 25030 Besançon, France

joseph.gavoille@ens2m.fr

Received: 3 March 2009 / Accepted: 28 April 2009 / Published online: 4 July 2009

Abstract
Thin films of titanium, copper and silver with various roughnesses were prepared by physical vapour deposition technique: dc magnetron sputtering. By varying the deposition time from few minutes to one hour it was possible to obtain metallic films with surface roughness average ranging from 1 to 20 nm. The wettability of these films was studied by measuring the contact angle using the sessile drop method and surface forces were investigated using the atomic force microscopy (AFM) by measuring the pull-off force between the AFM tip and the surfaces. Experimental results have been mainly discussed in terms of metal surface reactivity, Young modulus of the materials and real surface of contact between the AFM tip and the film surfaces.

PACS
68.35.Np - Adhesion.
68.37.Ps - Atomic force microscopy (AFM).
81.15.Ef - Vacuum deposition.

© EDP Sciences 2009

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