No.1（2006）12.Application of Bulk Theory to the Nano-Meniscus Formation

Masahiro Kawaguchi, Atsushi Mitsuo

According to demands for downsizing of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) applications, liquid layers to protect a surface from tribological problems have become as thin as a monolayer. Even though the thickness is molecularly thin, Quantum Mechanics such as the Molecular Dynamics method (MD) should be used to estimate or calculate a meniscus formation of liquid molecules, because the meniscus formation must be dominated by the movement of each liquid molecule. However, a simulation of the meniscus formation by using methods such as MD or Monte Carlo method (MC) take too much calculation time. In addition, this simulation time can show only early stage of the meniscus formation, so estimations of the practical phenomenon by using simulations such as MD and MC are inconvenient. In this study, the nano-meniscus formation of the film is calculated by the equations of continuity in order to make sure that the calculation of the bulk theory, which is used for the practical estimation, should be applicable to the molecularly thin liquid lubricant film. From the comparison of the calculation results with the experimental results, we can find that there are some agreements between these results. Calculation using bulk theory is very convenient for verifying the rough estimation of the practical phenomenon.

Keywords

nano-meniscus, meniscus height, bulk theory, equation of continuity

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