Nanowire friction with an applied bias

• Recently, we have shown how the friction experienced by nanowires pushed by an AFM tip can be determined by measuring their radius of curvature after manipulation [1]. It is of fundamental interest to know whether the wires behave like macroscopic objects, or if they are more like true atomic-scale point contacts where friction becomes independent of the applied normal force. Here we study how the friction between InAs nanowires and a SiN layer on conductive silicon varies when a DC voltage is applied. The tip charges the capacitor formed by the wire and the silicon back contact, causing attractive Coulomb forces and so increasing the contact pressure. A monotonic increase of the sliding friction with voltage was observed. This implies that the friction increases with the normal force and that this mesoscopic system behaves more like a macroscopic contact, despite being only nanometers in size in the direction of motion.

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NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences (hsv//eng)

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Physics

Fysik

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