Frictional properties of the micro-textured surface of anisotropically etched silicon

Anisotropic etching of silicon produces regular shapes that consist of {111} crystal planes. Applying a line-and-space mask pattern, textured surfaces with periodic regular shapes such as V-grooves are easily obtained. This paper first describes the design principle for such textures. By choosing an appropriate crystal orientation, symmetric or asymmetric grooves can be obtained. Variation of the texture profile is also discussed. The frictional properties are then examined. The effects of the texture were: (1) friction could be decreased, and (2) frictional directionality could be obtained with a combination of asymmetric texture and softer materials.