1 Copyright 2008 by ASME

Proceedings of the STLE/ASME International Joint Tribology Conference

IJTC2007
October 20-22, 2008, Miami, Florida, USA
DRAFT
IJTC2008-71245
DERIVATION OF REYNOLDS EQUATION IN CYLINDRICAL COORDINATES
APPLICABLE TO PIN-ON-DISK AND CMP


K.E. Beschorner
Dept. of Bioengineering
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
keb52@pitt.edu
C. F. Higgs III, Ph.D.
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
higgs@andrew.cmu.edu
M.R. Lovell, Ph.D.
Dept. of Industrial Engineering
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
mlovell@pitt.edu

ABSTRACT
Traditional tribology references typically provide the
cylindrical (or polar) Reynolds equation, which may not be
applicable when entrainment velocities vary with radius and/or
angle. However, entrainment velocities are known to vary with
angle for some cases of pin-on-disk contact and chemical
mechanical polishing (CMP). A form of Reynolds equation is
derived in this manuscript from the Navier-Stokes equations
without entrainment velocity assumptions. Two case studies,
related to pin-on-disk and CMP, are presented and results from
the derived form of Reynolds equation are compared with
results from the traditionally used form. Pressure distributions
obtained from the two forms of Reynolds equation varied
greatly in magnitude and in pressure shape. Therefore, a new
form of the cylindrical Reynolds equation derived in this
manuscript is used when entrainment velocities are known to
vary with radius or angle.
INTRODUCTION
Reynolds equation in cylindrical (or polar) form is used for
numerous tribology applications. Popular tribology references
list cylindrical Reynolds equation, which may not be valid when
entrainment velocities vary relative to angle or radius [1, 2].
Pin-on-disk contact and chemical mechanical polishing
represent two cases where entrainment velocities may vary with
angle.
This study derives a cylindrical form of the Reynolds
equation from the Navier-Stokes equations without making
assumptions regarding the entrainment velocities. The results
from the developed Reynolds equation without entrainment
velocity assumptions are compared with the results obtained
with the traditional Reynolds equation for simulations of both a
pin-on-disk and chemical mechanical polishing problem.
METHODOLOGY
The Reynolds equation is derived from the continuity and
momentum Navier-Stokes equations based on constant density
and viscosity assumptions [2]:
Continuity Equation:
( (( ( ) )) ) 0
z r
1
r
r r
1
z
r
= == =


+ ++ +


+ ++ +




(1)
r-momentum Equation:
0
r
2
r r
p
r z r r t
2 2
r
r
2
2
r
z
r r
r
r
= == = | || |

| || |

\ \\ \
| || |







+ ++ +
| || |
| || |

| || |


\ \\ \
| || |
+ ++ +


+ ++ +


+ ++ +


+ ++ +






(2)
-momentum Equation:
0
r
2
r
p
r
1
r z r r t
r
2 2
2
r
z r
= == = | || |

| || |

\ \\ \
| || |


+ ++ +




+ ++ +
| || |

| || |

\ \\ \
| || |
+ ++ +


+ ++ +


+ ++ +


+ ++ +







(3)
2 2 2 2
2
2
r
1
r r
1
r

+ ++ +


+ ++ +


+ ++ +


= == =

(4)
The Navier-Stokes equations can be simplified by applying
the following assumptions [3]:
1. Viscous forces are much larger inertial and body forces.
2. Velocity gradients across the z-dimension are larger than in
the r and directions.
3. Fluid is Newtonian.
4. Velocity flow is negligible in the z-direction and thus
pressure gradient across the z-direction is negligible
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2 Copyright 2008 by ASME
5. Steady-state conditions are assumed.
6. No slip of the fluid occurs on the surfaces.
7. Distances in the r-direction are large enough compared with
the film thickness that velocity gradients across the fluid are
much larger than
2
/r and /r
2
.
The continuity equation (1) is multiplied by r*dz and then
integrated across the film:
( (( ( ) )) ) ( (( ( ) )) ) 0 dz dz r
r
h
0
h
0
r
= == =


+ ++ +





(5)
By implementing the above stated assumptions and the Leibniz
rule of integration:
( (( ( ) )) ) ( (( ( ) )) ) ( (( ( ) )) )
( (( (

( (( (





+ ++ +


= == =



h
0
h
0
dz z , y , x f
x x
h
h , y , x f dz z , y , x f [
x

(6)
Equation (5) becomes:
( (( ( ) )) ) ( (( ( ) )) ) ( (( ( ) )) ) ( (( ( ) )) ) 0 dz
h
dz r
r r
h
r
h
0
h
0
h z r h z r
= == =


+ ++ +





+ ++ +



= == = = == =

(7)
By applying the stated assumptions, Eqs. (2) and (3) become:
| || |

| || |

\ \\ \
| || |





= == =


z z r
p
r

(8a)
| || |

| || |

\ \\ \
| || |





= == =



z z
p
r
1

(8b)
Applying the appropriate boundary conditions, Eqs. (8a) and
(8b) can be solved to determine the velocity profiles in the r and
direction as:
h
z
h
z h
r
p
2
z h
z
) b ( r ) a ( r r
+ ++ +

+ ++ +




= == =

(9a)
h
z
h
z h p
r 2
z h
z
) b ( ) a (
+ ++ +

+ ++ +




= == =

(9b)
The velocity profile can be integrated across the film
thickness for substitution back into Eq. (7):
h
2 r
p
12
h
dz
) b ( r ) a ( r
3 h
0
r
+ ++ +
+ ++ +



= == =


(10a)
h
2
p
r 12
h
dz
) b ( ) a (
3 h
0


+ ++ +
+ ++ +



= == =


(10b)
By substituting Eq. (10) back into Eq. (7), the generalized form
of Reynolds equation in cylindrical coordinates can be found:
| || |
| || |

| || |


\ \\ \
| || | + ++ +


+ ++ +
| || |
| || |

| || |


\ \\ \
| || | + ++ +


+ ++ +






= == =
| || |
| || |

| || |


\ \\ \
| || |




+ ++ +
( (( (

( (( (









h
2
rh
2 r
h
r
h
r
p
12
h
r
1
r
p
12
h
r
r
) b ( ) a ( ) b ( r ) a ( r
) b (
) b ( r
3 3

(11)
The derived form of this Reynolds equation (11) has a very
different right side of the equation than the form of Reynolds
equation (11) of often adopted from tribology resources [1, 2]:
( (( ( ) )) )
( (( ( ) )) ) h
2
rh
r 2
p
12
h
r
1
r
p
12
h
r
r
) b ( ) a (
) b ( r ) a ( r
3 3


+ ++ +
+ ++ +


+ ++ +
= == =
| || |
| || |

| || |


\ \\ \
| || |




+ ++ +
( (( (

( (( (









(12)
CASE STUDY I: PIN-ON-DISK
A pin-on-disk test operating in full film lubrication is evaluated
using the derived Reynolds equation (11) and with the
traditional form of Reynolds equation (12). To determine the
velocity profile, the pin is assumed to be sufficiently far from
the center of the disk such that the velocity profile is:
( (( ( ) )) ) = == = sin U
) a ( r

(13a)
( (( ( ) )) ) = == =

cos U
) a (

(13b)
where U represents the mean sliding speed of the disk relative
to the pin. The film thickness of the fluid was defined by the pin
shape and a minimum film thickness as:
0
2
h r * B h + ++ + = == =

(14)
The simulation parameters are defined in Table 1.

Table 1: Simulation parameters for pin-on-disk
Radius
(mm)
Curvature,
B (mm
-1
) h
0
(mm)
Viscosity,
(cP)
Sliding speed,
U (mm*s
-1
)
3.3 0.011 0.02 10.7 50

The cylindrical Reynolds equation without entrainment velocity
assumptions yields a much different pressure distribution than
the traditional cylindrical Reynolds equation (Fig. 1). The peak
pressure for the traditional Reynolds equation is about 3 times
(2.2 kPa) as large as the proposed form (0.65kPa) derived in
this work. In addition, the shape of the pressure distribution
between the two solutions is slightly different.

Figure 1: Solution to pin-on-disk problem using Eq. (11), left,
and using Eq. (12), right.
CASE STUDY II: CHEMICAL-MECHANICAL
POLISHING
Chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) often consists of a
rotating pad and rotating wafer. The cylindrical form of
Reynolds equation is typically used because the velocity and
film thickness profiles are simpler when expressed in this form.
Therefore, a sample CMP problem was solved using the
proposed form of Reynolds equation (11) and the traditional
form of Reynolds equation (12). The entrainment velocities can
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3 Copyright 2008 by ASME
be represented for the pad surface (a) and the wafer surface (b)
as [4]:
( (( ( ) )) )
p ) a ( r
sin d = == =

(15a)
( (( ( ) )) ) ( (( ( ) )) )
p ) a (
* cos d r + ++ + = == =


(15b)
0
) b ( r
= == =
(15c)
w ) b (
r = == =


(15d)
In Eq. (15), d represents the center to center distance of the
wafer and the pad;
p
is the rotational velocity of the pad and

w
is the rotational velocity of the wafer. The film thickness is
given as:
( (( ( ) )) ) = == = sin * sin r cos * sin r h , r h
M

(16)
In Eq. (16), h
M
is the mean film thickness, and are the tilt
angles of the wafer. Both forms of Reynolds equation were
solved using the simulation parameters in Table 2.

Table 2: Simulation parameters for CMP
Diameter
(mm)
d
(mm)

p

(RPM)

w

(RPM)
h
M

(m) () ()
200 150 100 50 100 0.015 0.015

The solution of the cylindrical Reynolds equation for the CMP
example without entrainment velocity assumptions, Eq. (11),
yields much different pressures than the traditional cylindrical
Reynolds equation (12) (Fig. 2). Specifically, the peak pressure
found with Eq. (12) is 180 kPa, while the peak pressure for the
traditional Reynolds equation is 420kPa. In addition, a sub-
ambient pressure region was generated when using the
traditional form of Reynolds equation (12) that did not result
from the proposed version of Reynolds equation (11).


Figure 2: Solution to CMP example using the derived Reynolds
equation (11), left, and the traditional Reynolds equation (12),
right.
CONCLUSIONS
A form of the cylindrical Reynolds equation is presented here
without entrainment velocity assumptions. This form of
Reynolds equation is most useful for applications where
r
is a
function of r and/or

is a function of . In addition,
simulations for both pin-on-disk and CMP case studies showed
large pressure deviations between the proposed form of
cylindrical Reynolds equation and the traditional Reynolds
equation. Therefore, using the traditional form of Reynolds
equation when entrainment velocities vary with the angle or
radius may lead to incorrect and misleading results.
NOMENCLATURE
B: Curvature of the pin
U: Sliding velocity of disk relative to pin
d: Center-to-center distance of the pad to the wafer
h: Film thickness
h
0
: Minimum film thickness
h
M
: Mean film thickness
r: Cylindrical coordinate, r
z: Cylindrical coordinate, z
, : Angles of tilt for the wafer
: Cylindrical coordinate,
: Viscosity
: Fluid density
: Velocity

p
: Rotational speed of the pad

w
: Rotational speed of the wafer
a
: Refers to surface of (z=0)
b
: Refers to surface of (z=h)
con
: Refers to region of shoe-floor contact
fl
: Refers to region where lubricant is present
t
: Refers to total (combined fluid and contact regions)
REFERENCES
1. Bhushan, B., Principles and Applications of Tribology. 1999:
Wiley-Interscience.
2. Hamrock, B.J., B.O. Jacobson, and S.R. Schmid,
Fundamentals of Fluid Film Lubrication. 2004: CRC Press.
3. Meyer, D., Reynolds Equation for Spherical Bearings.
Journal of Tribology, 2002. 125: p. 203.
4. Park, S.-S., C.-H. Cho, and Y. Ahn, Hydrodynamic analysis
of chemical mechanical polishing process. Tribology
International, 2000. 33(10): p. 723-730.

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