Pulsed mode operation of strained microelectromechanical resonators in air

Cimalla, V.; Foerster, Ch.; Will, Florentina; Tonisch, Katja; Brueckner, K.; Stephan, Ralf; Hein, M.; Ambacher, O.; Aperathitis, E.

doi:10.1063/1.2213950

Cited by 40 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In particular, we study circular monolayer graphene sheets that are similar geometrically to the circular multilayer graphene oxide sheets that have recently been fabricated and tested 8 , and where extremely high Q-factors with values up to 4000 have been found. In addition, the graphene oxide multilayers studied by Robinson et al 8 were under tensile stress, which has recently proven beneficial in enhancing the Q-factors of both metallic 18 and semiconducting nanowires 19,20,21 ;…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Edge Effects on the Intrinsic Loss Mechanisms of Graphene Nanoresonators

2009

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We utilize classical molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the intrinsic loss mechanisms of monolayer graphene nanoresonators undergoing flexural oscillations. We find that spurious edge modes of vibration, which arise not due to externally applied stresses but intrinsically due to the different vibrational properties of edge atoms, are the dominant intrinsic loss mechanism that reduces the Q-factors. We additionally find that while hydrogen passivation of the free edges is ineffective in reducing the spurious edge modes, fixing the free edges is critical to removing the spurious edge-induced vibrational states. Our atomistic simulations also show that the Q-factor degrades inversely proportional to temperature; furthermore, we also demonstrate that the intrinsic losses can be reduced significantly across a range of operating temperatures through the application of tensile mechanical strain.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Edge Effects on the Intrinsic Loss Mechanisms of Graphene Nanoresonators

2009

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“…7). Similarly, other researchers [124] fabricated AlN and SiC NEMS resonators on silicon substrates, then induced tensile strain in the NEMS by utilizing the thermal expansion mismatch between the NEMS and substrate. Qfactor enhancements of about one order of magnitude were reported for 50-250 nm thick NEMS with strains of about 0.0026%.…”

Section: Q-factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanomechanical resonators and their applications in biological/chemical detection: Nanomechanics principles

et al. 2011

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Recent advances in nanotechnology have led to the development of nano-electro-mechanical systems (NEMS) such as nanomechanical resonators, which have recently received significant attention from the scientific community. This has not only been for their capability for the label-free detection of bio/chemical-molecules at single-molecule (or atomic) resolution for future applications such as the early diagnostics of diseases such as cancer, but also for their unprecedented ability to detect physical quantities such as molecular weight, elastic stiffness, surface stress, and surface elastic stiffness for adsorbed molecules on the surface. Most experimental works on resonator-based molecular detection have been based on the principle that molecular adsorption onto a resonator surface increases the effective mass, and consequently decreases the resonant frequencies of the nanomechanical resonator. However, this principle is insufficient to provide fundamental insights into resonator-based molecular detection at the nanoscale; this is due to recently proposed novel nanoscale detection principles including various effects such as surface effects, nonlinear oscillations, coupled resonance, and stiffness effects. Furthermore, these effects have only recently been incorporated into existing physical models for resonators, and therefore the universal physical principles governing nanoresonator-based detection have not been completely described. Therefore, our objective in this review is to overview the current attempts to understand the underlying mechanisms in nanoresonator-based detection using physical models coupled to computational simulations and/or experiments. Specifically, we will focus on issues of special relevance to the dynamic behavior of nanoresonators and their applications in biological/chemical detection: the resonance behavior of micro/nano-resonators; resonator-based chemical/biological detection; physical models of various nanoresonators such as nanowires, carbon nanotubes, and graphene. We pay particular attention to experimental and computational approaches that have been useful in elucidating the mechanisms underlying the dynamic behavior of resonators across multiple and disparate spatial/length scales, and the resulting insight into resonator-based detection that has been obtained. We additionally provide extensive discussion regarding potentially fruitful future research directions coupling experiments and simulations in order to develop a fundamental understanding of the basic physical principles that govern NEMS and NEMS-based sensing and detection applications.

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“…Furthermore, the current findings can be experimentally validated, as recent experiments have indicated the ability to apply axial strain to nanowires [10]; we note again that experiments have demonstrated the utility of mechanical stress in improving the Q factors of 100 nm cross section SiN, Si, and SiC nanowires [10,11]. We also find that the nanowire Q factors are dependent on the aspect ratio, and not the surface area to volume ratio, and that the type of boundary condition applied to the nanowires should strongly impact the available Q factor, where fixed/fixed nanowires are expected to have higher intrinsic Q factors than fixed/free nanowires of the same size.…”

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confidence: 86%

“…One approach that has shown promise is to passivate the dangling bonds at the nanowire surfaces, for example, passivating Si surfaces with hydrogen [7]. Other researchers have had success increasing the Q factors of SiN, Si, and SiC nanowires through the application of tensile stress [10,11]; however, the 100 nm cross section nanowires utilized in those works indicate size scales at which surface losses may not dominate the Q-factor degradation. Therefore, a systematic means of combatting the intrinsic dissipation mechanisms in nanowires remains a significant and open research topic.…”

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confidence: 99%

Utilizing Mechanical Strain to Mitigate the Intrinsic Loss Mechanisms in Oscillating Metal Nanowires

Kim

Park

2008

Phys. Rev. Lett.

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We utilize classical molecular dynamics to study energy dissipation (the Q factors) of doubly clamped copper nanowire nanoresonators undergoing flexural oscillations. We find that the application of tensile strain effectively mitigates both the intrinsic surface and thermal losses, with improvements in Q by a factor of 3-10 across a range of operating temperatures. We also find that the nanowire Q factors are not dependent on the surface area to volume ratio, but instead their aspect ratio, and that the Q factors exhibit a 1=T 0:70 dependence on the temperature T that is independent of strain. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.215502 PACS numbers: 62.20.Àx, 62.23.Hj, 62.25.Fg, 62.25.Jk Over the past decade, driven by their remarkable physical properties, nanowires have drawn considerable interest from the scientific community. These novel physical properties have motivated the development of novel nanowirebased nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), which have been proposed for chemical and biological sensing [1], force and pressure sensors [2], high-frequency resonators for next-generation wireless devices [3], and many other applications [4].Operationally, these nanowire-based NEMS utilize the nanowire as a resonating beam, where the nanowire oscillates continuously at or near its resonant frequency and where the desired change in local environment, i.e., force, pressure, or mass, can be detected by changes in the resonant frequency of the nanowire. Therefore, the key performance measure for nanowires is their quality (Q) factor, which measures the energy dissipated per vibrational cycle. A higher Q factor is critical to NEMS device performance and reliability as it implies less energy dissipation per vibrational cycle, which enables the nanowire to extend its operational lifetime by performing near optimal capacity for a longer period of time. Furthermore, for these sensing applications, the sensing resolution is inversely proportion to the Q factor; the mass sensitivity m [4] is defined aswhere DR is the dynamic range and M eff is the effective mass of the nanowire. From (1), it is evident that low Q factors are the key limiting factor to the development of ultrasmall, highly sensitive, and reliable NEMS. Nanowires can dissipate energy and thereby lower their Q factors through both intrinsic and extrinsic means; extrinsic losses occur due to interactions with the surrounding environment, typically through support or clamping losses and through gas or air damping [5], while intrinsic losses arise due to processes occurring within the nanowire itself, for example, due to surface-driven losses [6,7] and thermoelastic damping [5,8,9]. Various researchers have shown [6,7] that the surface loss increases in essentially a linear fashion with increasing surface area to volume ratio or decreasing nanowire size. Despite the experimental evidence demonstrating the importance of surface and thermal losses in degrading the nanowire Q factors, it is still not understood how these losses can be mitigated. One approach that h...

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Pulsed mode operation of strained microelectromechanical resonators in air

Abstract: Articles you may be interested inMicroresonators with Q-factors over a million from highly stressed epitaxial silicon carbide on silicon Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 081901 (2014); 10.1063/1.4866268Stress-based resonant volatile gas microsensor operated near the critically buckled state

Cited by 40 publications

References 24 publications

The Importance of Edge Effects on the Intrinsic Loss Mechanisms of Graphene Nanoresonators

The Importance of Edge Effects on the Intrinsic Loss Mechanisms of Graphene Nanoresonators

Nanomechanical resonators and their applications in biological/chemical detection: Nanomechanics principles

Utilizing Mechanical Strain to Mitigate the Intrinsic Loss Mechanisms in Oscillating Metal Nanowires

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