Electromechanical resonances and field-emission-induced self-oscillations of single crystal diamond needles

Abstract

Due to its outstanding mechanical characteristics, diamond is an ideal material for use in micro- and nano-electromechanical systems. In this paper, we report on the investigation of vibrational properties of singly clamped needlelike diamond microcrystallites with nanoscale tips. The single-crystal diamond needles were produced by selective oxidation of polycrystalline films grown using chemical vapor deposition. The study of resonant oscillations driven by the AC voltage indicated that the elastic modulus of such diamond needles is close to that of bulk single crystal diamond. A self-oscillation regime induced by the DC voltage during field emission from the apex of a diamond needle is also demonstrated. It is shown that this regime can be used for efficient DC–AC conversion in microdevices. The high structural quality of diamond needles, their remarkable mechanical properties, and the relative ease of their mass fabrication make them promising candidates for application in various electromechanical systems, field-emission devices, and scanning probe techniques.