Ion Beam Induced Softening of a Nanoelectromechanical Actuator

TL;DRAbstract

A novel method of engineering the mechanical properties of individual nanostructures is reported. The method of ion irradiation serves as a non-destructive tool to manipulate the spring constant values of isolated nanorods. The slanted Si nanorods were grown by glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique on a patterned Si(100) substrate with tungsten posts arranged in a 1 micron x 1 micron square pattern. Another Cr nanorods sample were deposited over the Silica balls on Si substrate. The resulting slanted Si nanorods are well separated allowing us to study the mechanical properties of individual nanorods. An atomic force microscope was used in force-distance spectroscopy mode to determine the spring constant value of a single nanorod. The Young's modulus of the Si nanorods undergone remarkable change by 62% after the ion beam irradiation. The sample (at 80K temperature) was irradiated by 100 MeV Ag+8 ions at a fluence of 1014 ions/cm2. The micro-Raman studies over Si nanorods before an

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper