Real-time nanomechanical property modulation as a framework for tunable NEMS

In a paper published today in Nature Communications and reported in Oxford University News  researchers at the University of Oxford and the University of Pennsylvania have found a power-free and ultra-fast way of frequency tuning using functional nanowires.

Using GeTe nanowires as nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), electrical pulses can exploit a dislocation-based route for amorphization which enables power-free tuning of the resonance frequency. By changing how atoms bond with each other in these glasses, they are able to change the Young’s modulus within a few nanoseconds which directly affects the frequency at which the nanostrings vibrate. (see video)

This work not only opens up an entirely new area of phase-change NEMS but also provides a novel framework for utilizing functional nanowires in active mechanical systems. Phase-change nanowires could serve as the ultimate tunable frequency synthesizers and filters for the future of IoT and 5G networks.