Nanomechanical Devices for Physical and Chemical Sensing Applications

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In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0, a fusion of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), nanotechnology, robotics, additive manufacturing is considered as a core driver for this revolution. However, there should be smart and reliable “Things” in the first place in order to realize “smart factory”, “smart city” or “smart society with IoT”. Therefore, the development of miniaturized, cost-effective and reliable “Things” which are mostly high-performance physical/chemical sensors is becoming ever more important for this era. Micro/nanofabrication technology has become an enabling technology for a variety of applications. Here, I propose to research nanomechanical devices for physical or chemical sensing. Conventional nanomechanical devices have been usually designed and fabricated with silicon-based materials over the last three decades. Even though advanced micro/nanofabrication capabilities have realized a variety of nanomechanical devices with silicon-based materials, novel designs and applications of nanomechanical devices are limited due to narrow tuning range of mechanical, thermal, electrical and optical properties of silicon-based materials. Therefore, other materials that provide wider tuning range of mechanical, thermal, electrical and optical properties are actively explored. Nanostructured metal oxides and photo-curable polymeric nanocomposites are emerging candidates. Nanomechanical devices in the shape of cantilever, bridge, suspended trampoline, and membrane have been recently designed and fabricated with these promising materials and exploited as mechanical resonators, thermomechanical sensors, force sensors, and pressure sensors to name a few. The goals of this research program are in-depth understanding of statics/dynamics of nanomechanical devices designed with the emerging materials and the development of cost-effective smart sensors based on nanomechanical devices. The technological outcomes through the proposed program will be the catalysts for other novel applications and developments in Canada, and the advancements will promote technology transfer to industrial partners. Moreover, this research is very important for the interdisciplinary training of highly qualified personnel in Canada, who will learn nanomechanical sensor designs, micro/nanofabrication techniques, material sciences, vibrations, numerical simulations and signal processing.