Nano-electromechanical displacement sensing based on single-walled carbon nanotubes

Nano Lett. 2006 Jul;6(7):1449-53. doi: 10.1021/nl0606527.

Abstract

We present a nano-electromechanical system based on an individual single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) demonstrating their potential use for future displacement sensing at the nanoscale. The fabrication and characterization of the proposed nanoscaled transducer, consisting of a suspended metal cantilever mounted on top of the center of a suspended SWNT, is presented and discussed. The displacement of the nanoscale cantilever is detected via the electromechanically induced change in conductance of the strained SWNT. A relative differential resistance sensitivity (for a metallic SWNT) of up to 27.5%/nm was measured and a piezoresistive gauge factor of a SWNT of up to 2900 was extracted.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Electrochemistry
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Nanotubes, Carbon / chemistry*
  • Stress, Mechanical

Substances

  • Nanotubes, Carbon