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Mechanical Engineering

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Selected Works

2009

NEMS

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Piezoelectric Aluminum Nitride Nanoelectromechanical Actuators, Nipun Sinha, Graham Wabiszewski, Rashed Mahameed, Valery Felmetsger, Shawn Tanner, Robert Carpick, Gianluca Piazza Jul 2009

Piezoelectric Aluminum Nitride Nanoelectromechanical Actuators, Nipun Sinha, Graham Wabiszewski, Rashed Mahameed, Valery Felmetsger, Shawn Tanner, Robert Carpick, Gianluca Piazza

Nipun Sinha

This letter reports the implementation of ultrathin (100 nm) aluminum nitride (AlN) piezoelectric layers for the fabrication of vertically deflecting nanoactuators. The films exhibit an average piezoelectric coefficient (d31~−1.9 pC/N), which is comparable to its microscale counterpart. This allows vertical deflections as large as 40 nm from 18 µm long and 350 nm thick multilayer cantilever bimorph beams with 2 V actuation. Furthermore, in-plane stress and stress gradients have been simultaneously controlled. The films exhibit leakage currents lower than 2 nA/cm2 at 1 V, and have an average relative dielectric constant of approximately 9.2 (as in thicker films). These material …


Ultra Thin Aln Piezoelectric Nano-Actuators, Nipun Sinha, Graham E. Wabiszewski, Rashed Mahameed, Valery V. Felmetsger, Shawn M. Tanner, Robert W. Carpick, Gianluca Piazza Dec 2008

Ultra Thin Aln Piezoelectric Nano-Actuators, Nipun Sinha, Graham E. Wabiszewski, Rashed Mahameed, Valery V. Felmetsger, Shawn M. Tanner, Robert W. Carpick, Gianluca Piazza

Nipun Sinha

This paper reports the first implementation of ultra thin (100 nm) Aluminum Nitride (AlN) piezoelectric layers for the fabrication of vertically deflecting nano-actuators. An average piezoelectric coefficient (d31~ 1.9 pC/N) that is comparable to its microscale counterpart has been demonstrated in nanoscale thin AlN films. Vertical deflections as large as 40 nm have been obtained in 18 μm long and 350 nm thick cantilever beams under bimorph actuation with 2 V. Furthermore, in-plane stress and stress gradients have been simultaneously controlled. Leakage current lower than 2 nA/cm2 at 1 V has been recorded and an average relative dielectric constant of …