AVS 49th International Symposium
    Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Wednesday Sessions
       Session MM+NS-WeM

Paper MM+NS-WeM3
Fabrication and Characterization of a Carbon Nanotube Torsional Oscillator

Wednesday, November 6, 2002, 9:00 am, Room C-210

Session: Nanotechnology and Nanofabrication in NEMS
Presenter: P.W. Williams, University of North Carolina
Authors: P.W. Williams, University of North Carolina
A.M. Patel, University of North Carolina
S.J. Papadakis, University of North Carolina
M.R. Falvo, University of North Carolina
S. Washburn, University of North Carolina
R. Superfine, University of North Carolina
Correspondent: Click to Email
Carbon nanotubes have extraordinary mechanical properties and have been demonstrated to show atomic scale effects in the frictional@footnote 1@ and electronic properties@footnote 2@ of their contacts. We are exploring the applications of these properties in nanoelectromechanical Systems (NEMS). Torsional oscillators represent a device geometry for the measurement of fundamental properties of nanotubes as well as high frequency oscillators and sensors.@footnote 3@ Using individual multi-wall carbon nanotubes as torsional springs, we have fabricated NEMS paddle oscillators. We will report on the fabrication of these structures as well as measurements of their torsional compliance using atomic-force-microscope force-distance curves. The measured shear modulus will be compared with existing theoretical expectations, and unexpected hysteresis effects will be discussed. Along with compliance measurements, progress toward characterization of resonant behavior including measurements of quality factor and resonant frequencies will be presented. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@M. R. Falvo, J. Steele, R. M. Taylor, et al., Physical Review B 62, R10665 (2000).@footnote 2@S. Paulson, A. Helser, M. B. Nardelli, et al., Science 290, 1742 (2000).@footnote 3@S. Evoy, D. W. Carr, L. Sekaric, et al., Journal of Applied Physics 86, 6072 (1999).