Graphene ribbons with suspended masses as transducers in ultra-small nanoelectromechanical accelerometers

Abstract

Nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) sensors and actuators could be of use in the development of next generation mobile, wearable, and implantable devices. However, these NEMS devices require transducers that are ultra-small, sensitive and can be fabricated at low cost. Here, we show that suspended double-layer graphene ribbons with attached silicon proof masses can be used as combined spring-mass and piezoresistive transducers. The transducers, which are realized using processes that are compatible with large-scale semiconductor manufacturing technologies, can yield NEMS accelerometers that occupy at least two orders of magnitude smaller die area than conventional state-of-the-art silicon accelerometers.