Advisor(s)

George G. Adams

Contributor(s)

Nicol E. McGruer, Sinan Muftu, Ahmed Busnaina

Date of Award

2011

Date Accepted

4-2011

Degree Grantor

Northeastern University

Degree Level

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department or Academic Unit

College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Keywords

nanotechnology, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, AFM, MEMS, nanofabrication, nanotubes, NEMS, switch

Disciplines

Engineering

Abstract

With the end of Moore's Law quickly approaching, there is a drive to find alternative technologies to traditional solid state devices. Static and dynamic power dissipation continues to increase in current CMOS architectures. The electromechanical switch has nearly zero off-state leakage current. Single walled nanotubes have demonstrated exceptional electrical and mechanical properties and are ideal candidates for the actuator in such switches. Presented here for the first time are vertically actuating switches that demonstrate an interesting phenomenon during the initial switching cycles. It was found that a finite length of the nanotube bundle would slip into the trench region. This has not been reported for similar NEMS devices. A horizontally actuating device showed the appearance of similar behavior due to the electrostatic force. Atomic force microscopy was also used to mechanically characterize the suspended bundles. Here, force-distance AFM was used to measure the stiffness of the suspended bundles. Measurements agree well with the theory when using the number of tubes in the bundle as a fitting parameter.

Document Type

Dissertation

Rights Information

copyright 2011

Rights Holder

Peter John Ryan


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