title: Bistability and oscillatory motion of natural nanomembranes appearing within monolayer graphene on silicon dioxide.
abstract: The truly two-dimensional material graphene is an ideal candidate for nanoelectromechanics due to its large strength and mobility. Here we show that graphene flakes provide natural nanomembranes of diameter down to 3 nm within its intrinsic rippling. The membranes can be lifted either reversibly or hysteretically by the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. The clamped-membrane model including van-der-Waals and dielectric forces explains the results quantitatively. AC-fields oscillate the membranes, which might lead to a completely novel approach to controlled quantized oscillations or single atom mass detection.
authors.affiliation: 2nd Institute of Physics B, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mashoff
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pratzer
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Geringer
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Echtermeyer
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lemme
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liebmann
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morgenstern
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D016252:Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling / Q000379:methods; D015233:Models, Statistical; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D009991:Oscillometry; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D055672:Static Electricity; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D006108:Graphite