Wetting of Pb on oxidized micropatterned Si wafers

The wetting of lead on silicon wafers with regularly patterned holes, and covered by native silica, has been investigated at 610 K under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. The advancing and receding macroscopic contact angles have been measured by slowly compressing and stretching a liquid lead bridge between two identically patterned substrates. These angles are shown to depend on the distribution of the holes in the wafers and the continuity of the triple line.