ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a concise review of the current status of the self-assembled monolayers as molecular lubricants for microelectromechanical systems operating in harsh environments, including elevated temperatures and in uids. In particular, we focus on the similarities and differences in the structure-property relationships of two SAMs commonly employed to prevent in-use stiction in MEMS, namely octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS, CH3(CH2)17SiCl3) and peruorodecyl-trichlorosilane (FDTS, CF3(CF2)7(CH2)2SiCl3). We discuss the effect of harsh environments on these monolayers and how their degradation impacts their properties and the range of conditions for which these monolayers can be employed effectively for MEMS.
