title: A flexoelectric microelectromechanical system on silicon.
abstract: Flexoelectricity allows a dielectric material to polarize in response to a mechanical bending moment and, conversely, to bend in response to an electric field. Compared with piezoelectricity, flexoelectricity is a weak effect of little practical significance in bulk materials. However, the roles can be reversed at the nanoscale. Here, we demonstrate that flexoelectricity is a viable route to lead-free microelectromechanical and nanoelectromechanical systems. Specifically, we have fabricated a silicon-compatible thin-film cantilever actuator with a single flexoelectrically active layer of strontium titanate with a figure of merit (curvature divided by electric field) of 3.33 MV(-1), comparable to that of state-of-the-art piezoelectric bimorph cantilevers.
authors.affiliation: ICN2 - Institut Catala de Nanociencia i Nanotecnologia, CSIC and The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, Barcelona 08193, Spain.
authors.forename: Umesh Kumar
authors.initials: UK
authors.lastname: Bhaskar
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science and Technology and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, PO Box 217, AE Enschede 7500, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Nirupam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.affiliation: ICN2 - Institut Catala de Nanociencia i Nanotecnologia, CSIC and The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, Barcelona 08193, Spain.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abdollahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.|Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Darrell G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Schlom
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science and Technology and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, PO Box 217, AE Enschede 7500, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Guus
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rijnders
authors.affiliation: ICN2 - Institut Catala de Nanociencia i Nanotecnologia, CSIC and The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, Barcelona 08193, Spain.|ICREA - Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona 08010, Spain.
authors.forename: Gustau
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Catalan