Graphene-based microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are very promising candidates for next generation miniaturised, lightweight, and ultra-sensitive devices. In this paper we review the progress to-date of the assessment of the mechanical, electromechanical, thermomechanical properties of graphene towards application in graphene-based MEMS. Graphene possesses a plethora of outstanding properties-such as a 1 TPa Young's modulus, exceptionally high 2D failure strength that stems from its sp 2 hybridization, and strong sigma bonding between carbon atoms. Such exceptional mechanical properties can enable, for example, graphene-based sound sources capable of generating sound beyond the audible range. The recently engineered piezoelectric properties of AFM-tip-pressed graphene membranes or supported graphene on SiO 2 substrates, have paved the way in fabricating graphene-based nanogenerators and actuators.On the other hand, graphene's piezoresistive properties have enabled miniaturized pressure and strain sensors. Two-dimensional graphene nanomechanical resonators can potentially measure
We utilize the excellent mechanical properties of epitaxial silicon carbide (SiC) on silicon plus the capability of tuning its residual stress within a large tensile range to fabricate microstrings with fundamental resonant frequencies (f0) of several hundred kHz and mechanical quality factors (Q) of over a million. The fabrication of the perfect-clamped string structures proceeds through simple silicon surface micromachining processes. The resulting f × Q product in vacuum is equal or higher as compared to state-of-the-art amorphous silicon nitride microresonators. We demonstrate that as the residual epitaxial SiC stress is doubled, the f × Q product for the fundamental mode of the strings shows a four-fold increase.
Currently proven methods that are used to obtain devices with high-quality graphene on silicon wafers involve the transfer of graphene flakes from a growth substrate, resulting in fundamental limitations for large-scale device fabrication. Moreover, the complex three-dimensional structures of interest for microelectromechanical and nanoelectromechanical systems are hardly compatible with such transfer processes. Here, we introduce a methodology for obtaining thousands of microbeams, made of graphitized silicon carbide on silicon, through a site-selective and wafer-scale approach. A Ni-Cu alloy catalyst mediates a self-aligned graphitization on prepatterned SiC microstructures at a temperature that is compatible with silicon technologies. The graphene nanocoating leads to a dramatically enhanced electrical conductivity, which elevates this approach to an ideal method for the replacement of conductive metal films in silicon carbide-based MEMS and NEMS devices.
High quality micro-and nano-mechanical resonators are widely used in sensing, communications and timing, and have future applications in quantum technologies and fundamental studies of quantum physics. Crystalline thin-films are particularly attractive for such resonators due to their prospects for high quality, intrinsic stress and yield strength, and low dissipation. However, when grown on a silicon substrate, interfacial defects arising from lattice mismatch with the substrate have been postulated to introduce additional dissipation. Here, we develop a new backside etching process for single crystal silicon carbide microresonators that allows us to quantitatively verify this prediction. By engineering the geometry of the resonators and removing the defective interfacial layer, we achieve quality factors exceeding a million in silicon carbide trampoline resonators at room temperature, a factor of five higher than without the removal of the interfacial defect layer. We predict that similar devices fabricated from ultrahigh purity silicon carbide and leveraging its high yield strength, could enable room temperature quality factors as high as 6 × 10 9 .
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