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Published June 15, 2010 | Published
Journal Article Open

Controllable deformation of silicon nanowires with strain up to 24%

Abstract

Fabricated silicon nanostructures demonstrate mechanical properties unlike their macroscopic counterparts. Here we use a force mediating polymer to controllably and reversibly deform silicon nanowires. This technique is demonstrated on multiple nanowire configurations, which undergo deformation without noticeable macroscopic damage after the polymer is removed. Calculations estimate a maximum of nearly 24% strain induced in 30 nm diameter pillars. The use of an electron activated polymer allows retention of the strained configuration without any external input. As a further illustration of this technique, we demonstrate nanoscale tweezing by capturing 300 nm alumina beads using circular arrays of these silicon nanowires.

Additional Information

© 2010 American Institute of Physics. Received 16 February 2010; accepted 26 April 2010; published online 22 June 2010. The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency DARPA under the NACHOS program, Award No. W911NF-07-1-0277, the University of Arizona and the National Science Foundation under the CIAN program, sponsor number Y502628, prime Award No. EEC-0812072, and the Kavli Nanoscience Institute. Andrew Homyk thankfully recognizes support from the ARCS foundation. David Henry appreciates support from the John and Fannie Hertz foundation, and we thank Adrian Chapman for useful discussions. Sameer S. Walavalkar and Andrew P. Homyk contributed equally to this work.

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