This letter presents the application of electrostatic pull-in instability to study the size-dependent effective Young's Modulus Ẽ ͑ϳ170-70 GPa͒ of ͓110͔ silicon nanocantilevers ͑thickness ϳ1019-40 nm͒. The presented approach shows substantial advantages over the previous methods used for characterization of nanoelectromechanical systems behaviors. The Ẽ is retrieved from the pull-in voltage of the structure via the electromechanical coupled equation, with a typical error of Յ12%, much less than previous work in the field. Measurement results show a strong size-dependence of Ẽ . The approach is simple and reproducible for various dimensions and can be extended to the characterization of nanobeams and nanowires.

Reducing sensor dimension is a good way to increase system sensitivity and response. However the advantages gained must be weighed against other effects which also became significant during the scaling process. In this paper, the scaling effect of cantilever sensors from micrometer to nanometer regimes is reviewed. Changes in the physical properties such as Q-factor, Young’s modulus, noise and nonlinear deflections, as well as effects on practical sensor applications such as sensor response and sensor readouts, are presented. Since cantilever is an elemental transducer and device building block, its scaling effects can be further extrapolated to other sensing systems and applications.