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A tunable carbon nanotube electromechanical oscillator

Nature volume 431, pages 284–287 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) hold promise for a number of scientific and technological applications. In particular, NEMS oscillators have been proposed for use in ultrasensitive mass detection1,2, radio-frequency signal processing3,4, and as a model system for exploring quantum phenomena in macroscopic systems5,6. Perhaps the ultimate material for these applications is a carbon nanotube. They are the stiffest material known, have low density, ultrasmall cross-sections and can be defect-free. Equally important, a nanotube can act as a transistor7 and thus may be able to sense its own motion. In spite of this great promise, a room-temperature, self-detecting nanotube oscillator has not been realized, although some progress has been made8,9,10,11,12. Here we report the electrical actuation and detection of the guitar-string-like oscillation modes of doubly clamped nanotube oscillators. We show that the resonance frequency can be widely tuned and that the devices can be used to transduce very small forces.

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Figure 1: Device geometry and diagram of experimental set-up.
Figure 2: Measurements of the resonant response.
Figure 3: Amplitude and pressure dependence of the resonance.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Minot for discussions. This work was supported by the NSF through the Cornell Center for Materials Research and the NIRT program, and by the MARCO Focused Research Center on Materials, Structures, and Devices. Sample fabrication was performed at the Cornell Nano-Scale Science and Technology Facility (a member of the National Nanofabrication Infrastructure Network), funded by the NSF.

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Author notes

  1. Vera Sazonova and Yuval Yaish: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Atomic and Solid-State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA

    Vera Sazonova, Yuval Yaish, Hande Üstünel, David Roundy, Tomás A. Arias & Paul L. McEuen

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  1. Vera Sazonova
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Correspondence to Paul L. McEuen.

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Sazonova, V., Yaish, Y., Üstünel, H. et al. A tunable carbon nanotube electromechanical oscillator. Nature 431, 284–287 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02905

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