Though micro/nanomechanical resonators have been shown to offer distinct potential in applications ranging from resonant mass sensing to probe-based microscopy, their broad implementation is currently impeded by the comparatively-low throughput associated with isolated resonator implementations. While uncoupled resonator arrays have been proposed to overcome this throughput constraint, the signal processing and hardware requirements attendant to this approach largely negate its utility. An alternative, and in many ways more attractive, approach, is to realize improved throughput through the active exploitation of collective behaviors arising in coupled micro/nanoresonator arrays. This approach has the added benefit of potentially yielding improved performance metrics and/or inherent signal processing (e.g. input/output order reduction).
The proposed project, incorporating analytical, experimental, and educational outreach activities, seeks to investigate collective behaviors that arise in micro/nanoresonator arrays, which are locally- or globally-coupled through elastic, electrostatic, or electromagnetic mechanisms, in order to significantly improve their performance in emerging applications such as resonant mass sensing, electromechanical signal processing, and micromechanical neurocomputing. The research effort will initially focus on the development of multi-physics, distributed-parameter models of representative micro/nanoresonator arrays. These models, incorporating nonlinearities and asymmetries amongst other pertinent effects, will be systematically discretized and analyzed using standard perturbation methods. Using the results of these analyses, localized and synchronous behaviors will be identified, predictive design tools will be developed, and promising array designs distilled. Coupled microresonator arrays based on these designs will be subsequently fabricated and tested, using the fabrication and characterization suites available to the PI at Purdue University's Birck Nanotechnology Center, to verify predicted dynamic behaviors. Ultimately, the work will develop a refined understanding of the collective and emergent behaviors associated with coupled micro/nanoresonators and, with this understanding in hand, will actively exploit these behaviors to circumvent the aforementioned throughput constraint, improve overall device performance, and spur the development of novel MEMS/NEMS devices based upon coupled array architectures.
To ensure broad impact, the proposed research effort will be hierarchically integrated with an educational effort that is founded upon the existing cyber-infrastructure of the nanoHUB - the web portal of the National Science Foundation's Network for Computational Nanotechnology, as well as Purdue University's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program. The PI will develop and deploy on the nanoHUB (i) a comprehensive software tool for the simulation of collective behaviors emergent in coupled micro/nanoresonator arrays; (ii) a new K-12 module on emergent micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS), which emphasizes the engineer's role in micro/nanotechnology; and (iii) course materials and lectures associated with a new course on the Mechanics of Micro- and Nanosystems. These materials will be assessed using the nanoHub's existing qualitative and quantitative evaluation tools, as well as module-specific evaluation mechanism (e.g. interactive self-tests integrated within the K-12 module). As a whole, the PI anticipates that hundreds of scientists and students worldwide will utilize these resources to further their understanding of micro/nanosystems at either an introductory or research level. The educational effort will also incorporate a number of undergraduate research experiences arranged through Purdue University?s SURF program. These summer-long, intensive experiences will specifically target under-represented students.
