Metal-coated Si springs: Nanoelectromechanical actuators

Abstract

We demonstrated a nanoscale electromechanical actuator operation using an isolated nanoscale spring. The four-turn Si nanosprings were grown using the oblique angle deposition technique with substrate rotation, and were rendered conductive by coating with a 10-nm-thick Co layer using chemical vapor deposition. The electromechanical actuation of a nanospring was performed by passing through a dc current using a conductive atomic force microscope ͑AFM͒ tip. The electromagnetic force leads to spring compression, which is measured with the same AFM tip. The spring constant was determined from these measurements and was consistent with that obtained from a finite element analysis.

Mechanics of Helical Carbon Nanomaterials

“…At low-strain levels, the HN-Fiber behaves as an elastic spring with a spring constant k = 0.12 N/m, with a characteristic upturn in k at higher strain. It is noteworthy that the spring constant obtained earlier is much smaller than those of other nanomaterials having coiled geometry: the superlattice ZnO nanohelices (=4 N/m) [62], metal-coated Si nanocoils (=8.75 N/m) [63], and an array of tightly packed SiO nanocoils (=590 N/m) [64] are by far stiffer than HN-Fibers.…”

Contact materials for nanowire devices and nanoelectromechanical switches

“…To address these challenges, researchers such as Singh et al have demonstrated a nanoscale electromechanical actuator device using an isolated nanoscale spring. 33 The four-turn Si nanosprings were grown using the oblique angle deposition technique with substrate rotation; they were rendered conductive by a 10-nm-thick Co layer applied using chemical vapor deposition. Bargatin et al observed resonances from multiple vibrational modes of individual silicon-carbide-based nanomechanical resonators, covering a broad frequency range from several megahertz to over a gigahertz.…”

Arbitrarily shaped Si nanostructures by glancing angle ion beam sputter deposition

“…Such spiral-like STFs, if flexible enough to withstand defined loads without plastic deformation, could be promising candidates for a variety of applications in the sensing domain, for example, as electromechanical actuators [48]. This motivates the examination of their mechanical behavior, especially in comparison to macroscopic spirals, as will be presented here in terms of the spirals spring constant k. To analyze the elastic deformation of spring-like Si STFs, two samples comprising spirals with different structure parameters have been deposited with GLAD: one 4-turned spiral-like sample of total height h ¼ 2850 AE 50 nm (sample A) and one 13-turned spiral-like sample of total height h ¼ 8400 AE 50 nm (sample B).…”