Electromechanical properties of individual single-walled carbon nanotubes grown on focused-ion-beam patterned substrates

The combined capabilities of focused-ion-beam (FIB) nano-patterning and transmission electron microscope characterization have been employed to measure the electromechanical resonance of individual single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Suspended and isolated SWNTs of length up to 7 μm were grown on FIB-patterned molybdenum substrates. The Young's modulus of a 5 nm diameter SWNT is found to be E=1.34±0.06 TPa, which is deduced from the measured resonance frequency based on the elastic beam theory. The patterned substrates help locate the nanostructure effectively, allowing the same structure to be inspected after multiple processing steps.