ABSTRACT
Simultaneous application of tribological and chemical stimuli are often much more effective in removing material than either stimulus alone and relate to the general areas of tribo-and mechanochemistry. These effects can be exploited to produce extremely flat surfaces, as in the planarization of surfaces by chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP). Conversely, corrosive wear, environmentally induced crack growth, and related phenomena can dramatically shorten useful device lifetimes. Scanning force microscopy (SFM) is a particularly valuable tool for the study of this synergism, being able to both localize the tribological stimulation and to image the resulting wear with nanometer-scale resolution [1-3]. In many respects, the SFM tip can simulate a single asperity or abrasive particle interacting with nearly ideal substrates.
