Marko Dorrestijn et al 2006 Nanotechnology 17 2242 doi:10.1088/0957-4484/17/9/028
Marko Dorrestijn1,2, Alexander Bietsch1,2,3, Christoph Gerber1 and Ernst Meyer1
Show affiliationsFor measuring nanoscale displacements, air/vacuum tunnelling is the most sensitive method. However, the alignment mechanism is difficult to scale down for integrated devices. Here, we present a tunnelling displacement sensor based on a squeezable molecular bilayer, which was built from two stacked self-assembled monolayers of mercaptohexadecanoic acid. The bilayer provides an inherent vertical alignment between the tunnelling electrodes. Squeezing of the bilayer leads to an exponential change in the tunnel current. Nanometre displacement sensitivity was achieved.
07.07.Df Sensors (chemical, optical, electrical, movement, gas, etc.); remote sensing
06.30.Bp Spatial dimensions (e.g., position, lengths, volume, angles, and displacements)
73.63.-b Electronic transport in nanoscale materials and structures
81.07.Nb Molecular nanostructures
85.85.+j Micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) and devices
Instrumentation and measurement
Issue 9 (14 May 2006)
Received 30 December 2005, in final form 22 February 2006
Published 7 April 2006
Marko Dorrestijn et al 2006 Nanotechnology 17 2242
Daming Cheng et al 2006 Nanotechnology 17 1661
A Umit Cosckun et al 2002 Modelling Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng. 10 539
Halton Arp 1997 ApJ 474 74
David Kastor and Jennie Traschen 1999 Class. Quantum Grav. 16 1265
G. Papageorgiou and B.J. Schroers JHEP11(2009)009
M A Soldatov et al 2009 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 190 012210
A Poole et al 2007 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 19 452201
F.X. Soldner et al 1994 Nucl. Fusion 34 985
2003 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 36