Text Box: Amir Reza Zamiri

Text Box: Nanotechnology

Text Box:       NanoElectroMechanical Systems(NEMS)       As fabrication capabilities improve and technologies advance, the natural progression is to make microsystems  and devices ever smaller. This is leading to the fabrication of such structures on the nano-scale and, as well as  presenting many new challenges, this is opening up a wide range of opportunites. Smaller mechanical structures  will result in high resonant frequencies, increased sensitivities and reduced device size leading to the potential for  lower cost. What are NEMS and MEMS? NEMS stands for nanoelectromechanical systems or structures.  MEMS are microelectromechanical systems.  There are two main distinctions between what we nowadays call MEMS and NEMS.  MEMS are usually one to two orders in magnitude larger than NEMS, and their lateral size is anywhere from tens of microns to hundreds of microns and even few millimeters.  MEMS also deserve the word "systems" in the acronym as they have been integrated in a variety of applications, such as accelerometers and chemical sensors, and with other types of architectures, namely active electronic components.  NEMS at this stage in research should really stand for nanomechanical structures that are sometimes nanoelectromechanical structures (the "electro" part comes from using electric fields and currents to actuate them or detect their motion).  They are not quite yet systems as they have not been as integrated as MEMS.  NEMS are nano because their critical dimensions are below a micron. NEMS Applications Mechanical devices are shrinking in thickness and width to reduce mass, increase resonant frequency, and lower the force constants of these systems. Advances in the field include improvements in fabrication processes and new methods for actuating and detecting motion at the nanoscale. Lithographic approaches are capable of creating freestanding objects in silicon and other materials, with thickness and lateral dimensions down to about 20 nanometers. Similar processes can make channels or pores of comparable dimensions, approaching the molecular scale. This allows access to a new experimental regime and suggests new applications in sensing and molecular interactions. NEMS are used for applications as varied as airbag deployment sensors, RF components, "lab on a chip" devices for DNA analysis, and bio-chemical sensors.  As these devices get smaller, their beneficial properties increase: with a decrease in device size, the sensitivity of sensors, the frequency of oscillators, and the packing density of devices are all increased. The new class of NEMS devices may provide a revolution in applications such as sensors, medical diagnostics, displays, and data storage.transducers, switches, logic gates, actuators and sensors. nondestructive evaluation(NDE) and health monitoring.              Molecular Machines         Nano Actuator/Machine         Nano Sensors         Nanofluidics         Materials/Manufacturing processes used in NEMS            

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