NEMS applications of graphene

Graphene, which consists of a single atomic sheet of graphene, possesses high electronic mobility, and excellent mechanical properties, making it an ideal candidate for nanoelectromechanical (NEMS) applications, including sensing and signal processing. Toward these applications, we have measured the mechanical properties of graphene sheets and demonstrated fabrication and electrical readout of monolayer graphene NEMS that show vibrational resonances in the MHz range. The dependence of the resonant frequency on applied gate voltage yields the mass density and built-in strain. Upon addition of mass, we observe changes in both the density and the strain, indicating that adsorbates impart tension to the graphene. The quality factor increases monotonically with decreasing temperature and reaches ~104 at 5 K.