Capacitive spring softening in single-walled carbon nanotube nanoelectromechanical resonators

Nano Lett. 2011 Apr 13;11(4):1448-51. doi: 10.1021/nl1039549. Epub 2011 Mar 23.

Abstract

We report the capacitive spring softening effect observed in single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) nanoelectromechanical (NEM) resonators. The nanotube resonators adopt a dual-gate configuration with both bottom-gate and end-gate capable of tuning the resonance frequency through capacitive coupling. Interestingly, downward resonance frequency shifting is observed with increasing end-gate voltage, which can be attributed to the capacitive softening of the spring constant. Furthermore, in-plane vibrational modes exhibit a much stronger spring softening effect than out-of-plan modes. Our dual-gate design should enable the differentiation between these two types of vibrational modes and open up the new possibility for nonlinear operation of nanotube resonators.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Electric Capacitance
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Micro-Electrical-Mechanical Systems / instrumentation*
  • Nanotechnology / instrumentation*
  • Nanotubes, Carbon / chemistry*
  • Nanotubes, Carbon / ultrastructure*
  • Transducers*

Substances

  • Nanotubes, Carbon