Imaging mechanical vibrations in suspended graphene sheets

We carried out measurements on nanoelectromechanical systems based on multilayer graphene sheets suspended over trenches in silicon oxide. The motion of the suspended sheets was electrostatically driven at resonance using applied radio-frequency voltages. The mechanical vibrations were detected usin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2008-05
Main Authors: Garcia-Sanchez, D, A M van der Zande, A San Paulo, Lassagne, B, McEuen, P L, Bachtold, A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beam theory (structures)
Elastic beams
Finite element method
Graphene
Mechanical properties
Multilayers
Nanoelectromechanical systems
Rubbing
Scanning probe microscopy
Sheets
Silicon oxides
Vibration measurement
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Summary:We carried out measurements on nanoelectromechanical systems based on multilayer graphene sheets suspended over trenches in silicon oxide. The motion of the suspended sheets was electrostatically driven at resonance using applied radio-frequency voltages. The mechanical vibrations were detected using a novel form of scanning probe microscopy, which allowed identification and spatial imaging of the shape of the mechanical eigenmodes. In as many as half the resonators measured, we observed a new class of exotic nanoscale vibration eigenmodes not predicted by the elastic beam theory, where the amplitude of vibration is maximum at the free edges. By modeling the suspended sheets with the finite element method, these edge eigenmodes are shown to be the result of non-uniform stress with remarkably large magnitudes (up to 1.5 GPa). This non-uniform stress, which arises from the way graphene is prepared by pressing or rubbing bulk graphite against another surface, should be taken into account in future studies on electronic and mechanical properties of graphene.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.0805.3498