OS1118 Evaluation of pillar array clustering induced by capillary force
Details
Capillary induced forces are widely observed in fine structures where liquid flows along solid surfaces, such as wet-etching process in micro/nano-pillar fabrication. Undesirable bending or collapse of the structure occurs if they are improperly considered in the structural design. In this study, liquid column formation between aligned polymer plates is observed and the resulting capillary induced force causing the plate deformation is evaluated. The plate dimension is sub-millimeter scale, which is rather large in observation of capillarity, in order to clearly measure deformation process of the aligned plates until their contacts. When the plates are immersed into liquid from the fixed end, gap between plates becomes smaller due to liquid columns formed far from the end. It is found that the deformation of the plates proceeds more unstably as the number of plates increase, but their contact is initiated at the similar plate length into liquid.
