Lou, Jun2013-03-082013-03-082011Lu, Hao. "Electromechanical Investigation of Low Dimensional Nanomaterials for NEMS Applications." (2011) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/70331">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/70331</a>.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/70331Successful operation of Nano-ElectroMechanical Systems (NEMS) critically depends on their working environment and component materials' electromechanical properties. It is equally important that ambient or liquid environment to be seriously considered for NEMS to work as high sensitivity sensors with commercial viabilities. Firstly, to understand interaction between NEMS oscillator and fluid, transfer function of suspended gold nanowire NEMS devices in fluid was calculated. It was found that NEMS's resonance frequency decreased and energy dissipation increased, which constrained its sensitivity. Sensitivity limit of NEMS oscillators was also considered in a statistical framework. Subsequently, suspended gold nanowire NEMS devices were magnetomotively actuated in vacuum and liquid. Secondly, electromechanical properties of gold nanowires were carefully studied and the observed size effect was found to agree with theory, which predicted small changes of electromechanical property compared with bulk gold materials. Finally, it is well recognized that continuous development of new NEMS devices demands novel materials. Mechanical properties of new two-dimensional hexagonal Boron Nitride films with a few atomic layers were studied. Outlook of utilizing ultrathm BN films in next generation NEMS devices was discussed.131 p.application/pdfengCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.Applied sciencesBoron nitrideGold nanowiresNanomaterialsNanotechnologyThesisLuHTHESIS PHYS. 2011 LU