Monocrystalline silicon carbide nanoelectromechanical systems

Monocrystalline silicon carbide nanoelectromechanical systems

SiC is an extremely promising material for nanoelectromechanical systems given its large Young’s modulus and robust surface properties. We have patterned nanometer scale electromechanical resonators from single-crystal 3C-SiC layers grown epitaxially upon Si substrates. A surface nanomachining process is described that involves electron beam lithography followed by dry anisotropic and selective...

Low voltage nanoelectromechanical switches based on silicon carbide nanowires.

We report experimental demonstrations of electrostatically actuated, contact-mode nanoelectromechanical switches based on very thin silicon carbide (SiC) nanowires (NWs). These NWs are lithographically patterned from a 50 nm thick SiC layer heteroepitaxially grown on single-crystal silicon (Si). Several generic designs of in-plane electrostatic SiC NW switches have been realized, with NW widths...

Temperature-dependent internal friction in silicon nanoelectromechanical systems

We report the temperature-dependent mechanical properties of nanofabricated silicon resonators operating in the megahertz range. Reduction of temperature leads to an increase of the resonant frequencies of up to 6.5%. Quality factors as high as 1000 and 2500 are observed at room temperature in metallized and nonmetallized devices, respectively. Although device metallization increases the overal...

Silicon Nitride and Silicon Carbide

Boron carbide/n-silicon carbide heterojunction diodes