Internship: Atomic scale wear at macroscopically loaded interfaces

At the Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography (ARCNL) we carry out exciting fundamental physics research at the highest possible level with relevance to key technologies in nanolithography. We contribute to the production of ever smarter and smaller electronics, while at the same time pushing the boundaries of our fundamental insight into the workings of nature.

The research field of tribology, devoted to contact formation, friction and wear phenomena down to the atomic scale, is of direct and pressing relevance to the manufacture of semiconductor devices. Friction-induced stresses and deformations on the scale of only a few atomic spacings are starting to challenge the future of nanolithography technology, limiting the achievable feature size in semiconductor chips.

In this project, you will investigate the wear process of SiN surfaces at the nanoscale. In particular, you will investigate the hypothesis that the wear of the SiN, when contacted against Si, is driven by an atomic scale adhesive wear process that is sensitive to the presence of small amounts of water. To do so, you will perform a combination of atomic force microscopy topography measurements and macroscale wear experiments in a controlled environment. 

References

1. Leriche et al. Wear 498–499, 204284 (2022).
2. Hsia et al. Int. 142, 105983 (2020).
3. Jacobs et al. Nanotech.8, 108-112 (2013).
4. Hsia et al. Rev. Res. 3, 043204 (2021).