Investigation on a nanomechanical transistor

Abstract

In this paper, we propose the mathematical model of a novel device, the nanomechanical transistor, able to control a current through a small drive voltage. The novelty of the device relies in its mechanical working principle where nanopillars vibrate between electrodes under a self-excitation regime which provides a continuative electric charge transportation. The dynamics of the investigated system involves electromechanical phenomena with the addition of quantum effects due to the electron tunneling of charges from pillars to electrodes. The theory here presented is an attempt to build a general model for those multiphysics phenomena (electrical-mechanical with presence of quantum effects) frequently met in nanotechnology that do not fit yet into a systematic frame