Tunable Dual Mode Carbon Nanotube Strain Gauge

We present a new nanoelectromechanical system consisting of a carbon nanotube resonator, tuned by an integrated thermal actuator. This device can be operated as a strain gauge both in static or resonant mode, achieving equivalent gauge factors of the order of 1000 for applied strain levels between 0 and 0.8 mε. In the resonant mode the sensitivity is 61 kHz/µε with a resolution of 5.5 µε, while in the static mode the resolution is 61 µε. The resonator is tunable in the 69 MHz – 117.3 MHz range with a 70% relative tuning range at room temperature and < 10
⁻³
mbar pressure.