ABSTRACT
Nanoelectromechanical devices integrate mechanical elements, such as resonators, actuators, and sensors, with electronic circuits. ™ese elements consist of structures that come in numerous shapes and forms, ranging from single doubly clamped beams, disks, rings, gears, and squares to more elaborate geometries. Nanomechanical structures are typically characterized by their dimensions, resonance frequencies, and quality factors Q, a measure of energy loss in the system. Typical dimensions of these devices range from several hundreds of microns down to a few nanometers, spanning typical MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) to more recent NEMS (nanoelectromechanical systems). Resonance frequencies range from hundreds of kilohertz to gigahertz. Quality factors of up to hundreds of thousands have been achieved at megahertz frequencies (Nguyen, 2005).
