Tunable, Broadband Nonlinear Nanomechanical Resonator

Abstract

A nanomechanical resonator incorporating intrinsically geometric nonlinearity and operated in a highly nonlinear regime is modeled and developed. The nanoresonator is capable of extreme broadband resonance, with tunable resonance bandwidth up to many times its natural frequency. Its resonance bandwidth and drop frequency (the upper jump-down frequency) are found to be very sensitive to added mass and energy dissipation due to damping. We demonstrate a prototype nonlinear mechanical nanoresonator integrating a doubly clamped carbon nanotube and show its broadband resonance over tens of MHz (over 3 times its natural resonance frequency) and its sensitivity to femtogram added mass at room temperature.

3D Tunable, Multiscale, and Multistable Vibrational Micro‐Platforms Assembled by Compressive Buckling

“…Current MEMS devices are limited to only a few, largely two-dimensional (2D) geometries such as cantilevered beams, [16–18] doubly clamped bridges, [19] stressed wires, [20] and other constructs based on flat membranes and plates. [7, 21] These devices also, by consequence, operate in a largely simple, 2D manner, thereby limiting their utility when full, three-dimensional (3D) motions are required.…”

“…In addition, ambient vibrations are essentially three-dimensional, and hence conventional 2D MEMS devices for kinetic energy harvesting applications have disadvantages. Recent advances in MEMS technologies include the development of devices with resonant frequencies that can be tuned to compensate for frequency shifts associated with changes in the operating environment [20, 30–32] and that can be continuously adapted for time-varying ambient vibrations, both of which improve the efficiency for energy harvesting. Common methods for tuning the frequency include changing the associated mass and/or tuning the effective stiffness of the resonator by applying stresses through piezoelectric effects, thermal expansion or electrostatic forces.…”

“…Common methods for tuning the frequency include changing the associated mass and/or tuning the effective stiffness of the resonator by applying stresses through piezoelectric effects, thermal expansion or electrostatic forces. [20, 30–32] These approaches require, however, integration of additional components and materials, and, therefore, significantly complicate the fabrication process. 3D structures formed via origami, [33, 34] buckling, [35–38] and 3D printing [39] have attracted significant attentions due to their wide range of applications such as microphysiological systems, [39] cell studies, [40, 41] bio-mimic actuators, [42, 43] and the control of wave propagation.…”

Mechanism of geometric nonlinearity in a nonprismatic and heterogeneous microbeam resonator

“…One of the commonly used applications of nonlinear micro-resonators is in sensing. Cho et al [20] developed a highly sensitive mass sensor by employing geometric nonlinearity in a fixed-fixed nanotube in which the sensor performance could be improved by utilizing nonlinear instability. Venstra et al [21] developed a micro-cantilever based gas sensor where the frequency shift due to adsorption and desorption in the nonlinear regime is larger by a factor of three compared to operating in the linear regime.…”

Multifrequency excitation of a clamped–clamped microbeam: Analytical and experimental investigation

“…24. Recent studies on a carbon nanotube-based nano-resonator for mass detection applications proved that the resonator bandwidth is directly proportional to the forcing amplitude 25 . Recent studies have highlighted the interesting dynamics of mixed frequency excitation and their applications as sensors and actuators.…”