Nano electromechanical transducer based on single walled carbon nanotubes

We report on the fabrication and characterization of a nanometer-scale electromechanical transducer based on individual single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Each nano electro-mechanical device incorporates one electrically connected and suspended SWNT (d ∼ 1nm), which is placed underneath a freestanding 200 nm wide metal (2nm Cr and 30-50nm Au) cantilever. We present mechanical and electromechanical measurements of the cantilever based device and show that the resistance of the SWNT changes significantly by a factor of approximately 3 when slightly deflecting the Au cantilever by 40nm.