Key Issues of Nanotribology for Successful Nanofabrication — From Basis to C60 Molecular Bearings

概要

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We briefly review the key issues of nanotribology, particularly the mechanism of friction on graphite surface, i.e., atomic friction, flake friction, and C60 molecular bearings. For the atomic and flake frictions, frictional force maps are compared between simulations and experiments, which can be explained by stick-slip motion of the tip apex atom and flake. For C60 molecular bearings, a novel frictional mechanism realized in the graphite/C$_{60}^{\text{mono}}$/graphite system, is reported. In this system, static frictional forces have a finite value but denote that dynamical frictional forces are zero. In order to explain the mechanism, “step rotation model” of a C60 molecule is proposed by considering the effect of thermal activation, based on the concept of “single-molecular bearings.” It should be emphasized that the graphite/C$_{60}^{\text{mono}}$/graphite system is the smallest bearing in the world which has a tremendous potential for the realization of nano- and micro-machines, and has opened a new field of molecular bearings.
2004-07-15