Metal-coated Si springs: Nanoelectromechanical actuators

We demonstrated a nanoscale electromechanical actuator operation using an isolated nanoscale spring. The four-turn Si nanosprings were grown using the oblique angle deposition technique with substrate rotation, and were rendered conductive by coating with a 10-nm-thick Co layer using chemical vapor deposition. The electromechanical actuation of a nanospring was performed by passing through a dc current using a conductive atomic force microscope (AFM) tip. The electromagnetic force leads to spring compression, which is measured with the same AFM tip. The spring constant was determined from these measurements and was consistent with that obtained from a finite element analysis.