Dresden 2003 – scientific programme

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HL: Halbleiterphysik

HL 42: Bauelemente I

HL 42.2: Talk

Thursday, March 27, 2003, 12:00–12:15, BEY/118

Nonresonant electromechanical actuation of nanotweezers — •Christine Meyer, Heribert Lorenz, and Khaled Karrai — Center for NanoScience and Sektion Physik, LMU Munich

Tweezers which allow a manipulation of nanometer-sized objects are very welcome tools in many areas of science and technology. In liquids, optical tweezers are commonly used. More versatile tweezers using the electromechanical actuation of a nanoscopic analogue of normal laboratory tweezers are still in their early stage of development.

Here we present silicon based nanotweezers consisting of free-standing cantilevers defined by electron-beam lithography with insulating electron beam deposited (ebd) prongs on top. Electrostatic forces are used to provoke a bending of the biased cantilevers, moving the ebd-prongs passively.

An all-optical method designed to test the functionality of nano-electromechanical systems is presented. Images of the tweezers structures are taken by confocal scanning optical microscopy while the cantilevers are electrostatically actuated under a low frequency voltage. Demodulating at the actuation frequency and its higher harmonics, displacements of less than 0.5 nm can be resolved.