Characterization of silver-gallium nanowires for force and mass sensing applications

Authors: Laura; Tung, Ryan C.; Raman, Arvind; Reifenberger, Ronald G.; Yazdanpanah, Mehdi M.; Cohn, Robert W.

Source: Nanotechnology, Volume 21, Number 30, 30 July 2010 , pp. 305701-305710(10)

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Abstract:

We investigate the mechanical properties of cantilevered silver-gallium (Ag₂Ga) nanowires using laser Doppler vibrometry. From measurements of the resonant frequencies and associated operating deflection shapes, we demonstrate that these Ag₂Ga nanowires behave as ideal Euler-Bernoulli beams. Furthermore, radial asymmetries in these nanowires are detected through high resolution measurements of the vibration spectra. These crystalline nanowires possess many ideal characteristics for nanoscale force and mass sensing, including small spring constants (as low as 10^{− 4} N m^{− 1}), high frequency bandwidth with resonance frequencies in the 0.02-10 MHz range, small suspended mass (picograms), and relatively high Q-factors (~2-50) under ambient conditions. We evaluate the utility of Ag₂Ga nanowires for nanocantilever applications, including ultrasmall mass and high frequency bandwidth piconewton force detection.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0957-4484/21/30/305701

Publication date: 2010-07-30