On the strength of triboemission in sliding of diamond on single crystal silicon Online publication date: Tue, 16-Feb-2010
by Hisham A. Abdel-Aal
International Journal of Precision Technology (IJPTECH), Vol. 1, No. 3/4, 2010
Abstract: Triboemission is associated with energy dissipation in sliding friction of solids. It is related to wear of diamond tools in precision machining of semiconductors. When semiconducting silicon slides over diamond emission intensity decreases as contact progresses over the wear track. This is anomalous to experimentally observed order of emission intensity: insulator > semiconductor > conductor. Explanations centred on contamination by dielectric oxide films during sample preparation or the nature of mono-crystalline semiconductors. Here we propose an alternative explanation to this phenomenon that is on the high pressure behaviour of semiconductors. We show that due to repeated sliding, the wear tracks experience a semiconductor-to-metal transformation that renders the bulk of material immediately under the diamond slider conducting. As such, the material volume under the diamond slider essentially behaves as a metal and due to the changes in its electrical resistivity and work function emission will be of weak undetectable strength.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Precision Technology (IJPTECH):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook