Abstract
In recent years, the tribological behavior of coated ceramic material has been the issue of much interest. Particularly, the understanding of the tribological performance of thin film under light load is important for its potential in applications of MEMS. The friction and wear behavior of ceramic material that occur at light load depends on several factors such as surface roughness, contact area and material properties. In this work, the tribological behavior of coated silicon under light load and low speed was investigated. Particularly, the effects of coated materials, humidity and undulated surface were also studied. The results show that the effect of humidity on fiction was influenced by the apparent area of contact between the two surfaces. Also both adhesive and abrasive wear occurred depending on the sliding condition. Finally, undulations on the silicon wafer were found to be effective in trapping wear particles and resulted in the reduction of friction.