Nanomechanical Devices for Physical and Chemical Sensing Applications

在第四次工业革命或工业4.0的时代，人工智能、机器学习、物联网(IoT)、纳米技术、机器人、加法制造等新兴技术的融合被认为是这场革命的核心驱动力。但是，首先要有智能可靠的“物”，才能实现“智慧工厂”、“智慧城市”或“物联网智慧社会”。因此，开发小型化、高性价比和可靠的东西，主要是高性能的物理/化学传感器，在这个时代变得越来越重要。微/纳米制造技术已经成为一种能够用于各种应用的技术。在这里，我建议研究用于物理或化学传感的纳米机械设备。在过去的三十年里，传统的纳米机械设备通常是用硅基材料设计和制造的。尽管先进的微/纳米加工能力已经实现了各种硅基材料的纳米机械器件，但由于硅基材料的机械、热、电和光学性质的调节范围较窄，纳米机械器件的新颖设计和应用受到限制。因此，可以提供更宽的机械、热学、电学和光学性能调谐范围的其他材料正被积极探索。纳米金属氧化物和光固化聚合物纳米复合材料是新兴的候选材料。悬臂梁、桥梁、悬空蹦床和薄膜等形状的纳米机械器件最近已经被设计和制造，并被用作机械谐振器、热机械传感器、力传感器和压力传感器等。这项研究计划的目标是深入了解用新兴材料设计的纳米机械设备的静力学/动力学，并开发基于纳米机械设备的高性价比智能传感器。通过拟议计划取得的技术成果将成为加拿大其他新应用和开发的催化剂，这些进步将促进向产业合作伙伴转让技术。此外，这项研究对于加拿大高素质人才的跨学科培训非常重要，他们将学习纳米机械传感器设计、微/纳米制造技术、材料科学、振动、数值模拟和信号处理。

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.