Summary: INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS PUBLISHING NANOTECHNOLOGY
Nanotechnology 13 (2002) 120­131 PII: S0957-4484(02)30453-7
Calculation of pull-in voltages for
carbon-nanotube-based
nanoelectromechanical switches
Marc Dequesnes, S V Rotkin and N R Aluru1,2
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
E-mail: aluru@uiuc.edu
Received 2 November 2001
Published 22 January 2002
Online at stacks.iop.org/Nano/13/120
Abstract
We study the pull-in voltage characteristics of several nanotube
electromechanical switches, such as double-wall carbon nanotubes
suspended over a graphitic ground electrode. We propose parametrized
continuum models for three coupled energy domains: the elastostatic energy
domain, the electrostatic energy domain and the van der Waals energy
domain. We compare the accuracy of the continuum models with atomistic
simulations. Numerical simulations based on continuum models closely

Source: Aluru, Narayana R. - Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Collections: Engineering; Materials Science