Electromechanical response of single-walled carbon nanotubes to torsional strain in a self-contained device

Nanoscale electronics seeks to decrease the critical dimension of devices in order to improve performance while reducing power consumption. Single-walled carbon nanotubes fit well with this strategy because, in addition to their molecular size, they demonstrate a number of unique electronic, mechanical and electromechanical properties. In particular, theory 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 predicts that strain can have a large effect on the band structure of a nanotube, which, in turn, has an influence on its electron transport properties. This has been demonstrated in experiments where axial strain was applied by a scanning probe 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 . Theory also predicts that torsional strain can influence transport properties, which was observed recently in multiwalled nanotubes 13 . Here we present the first experimental evidence of an electromechanical effect from torsional strain in single-walled nanotubes, and also the first measurements of piezoresistive response in a self-contained nanotube-based nanoelectromechanical structure.