The influence of surface roughness on the adhesion force

Adhesion measurements are presented which were carried out with an atomic force microscope between polymer balls attached to a cantilever and a silicon wafer under ultra high vacuum conditions. In using a silicon surface with a defined structure a correlation between adhesion force and contact area was found. This correlation could partly be explained by the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts model, if a change of the surface energy is assumed as a result of the structuring. For a constant geometric contact area an additional structuring leads to a decrease of the adhesion force. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.