Graphene-on-dielectric micromembrane for optoelectromechanical hybrid devices

Published

February 7, 2014

Author(s)

Jacob M. Taylor, Silvan Schmid, Tolga Bagci, Emil Zeuthen, Patrick Herring, Maja Cassidy, C. M. Marcus, Bartolo Amato, Anja Boisen, Yong C. Shin, Jing Kong, Anders Sorensen, Koji Usami, E.S. Polzik

Abstract

Due to their exceptional mechanical and optical properties, dielectric silicon nitride (SiN) mi- cromembranes have become the centerpiece of many optomechanical experiments. Efficient capac- itive coupling of the membrane to an electrical system would facilitate exciting hybrid optoelec- tromechanical devices. However, capacitive coupling of such SiN membranes is rather weak. Here we add a single layer of graphene on SiN micromembranes (SiN-G) and compare the electromechan- ical coupling and mechanical properties to bare SiN membranes and to membranes coated with an aluminium layer (SiN-Al). The electrostatic force to external coplanar electrodes of SiN-G mem- branes is found to be equal to that of the SiN-Al membranes and corresponds to the theoretical value calculated for a perfectly conductive membrane coating. Our results show that a single layer of graphene substantially enhances the electromechanical capacitive coupling of a SiN membrane without significantly adding mass, decreasing the mechanical quality factor or affecting the optical properties.

Citation

Physical Review Letters

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4862296

Keywords

graphene , SiN , optomechanics , electromechanics , nanomembrane

Citation

Taylor, J. , Schmid, S. , Bagci, T. , Zeuthen, E. , Herring, P. , Cassidy, M. , Marcus, C. , Amato, B. , Boisen, A. , Shin, Y. , Kong, J. , Sorensen, A. , Usami, K. and Polzik, E. (2014), Graphene-on-dielectric micromembrane for optoelectromechanical hybrid devices, Physical Review Letters, [online], https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4862296 (Accessed October 11, 2025)