Self-organization of irregular NEM vibrations in multi-mode shuttle structures

Abstract

We investigate theoretically multi-mode electromechanical "shuttle" instabilities in DC voltage-biased nanoelectromechanical single-electron tunneling (NEM-SET) devices. We show that initially irregular (quasi-periodic) oscillations, that occur as a result of the simultaneous self-excitation of several mechanical modes with incommensurable frequencies, self-organize into periodic oscillations with a frequency corresponding to the eigenfrequency of one of the unstable modes. This effect demonstrates that a local probe can selectively excite global vibrations of extended objects.

4 pages, 4 figures. In press by Phys. Rev. Lett

References in corpus (3)

• A tunable carbon nanotube electromechanical oscillator
• Electrical generation and absorption of phonons in carbon nanotubes
• Tunneling in suspended carbon nanotubes assisted by longitudinal phonons

Cited by in corpus (6)

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• Coupled Nanomechanical Electron Shuttles: Full Stochastic Modeling and Device-Level Simulation
• Selfoscillations of Suspended Carbon Nanotubes with a Deflection Sensitive Resistance under Voltage Bias
• Selective self-excitation of higher vibrational modes of graphene nano-ribbons and carbon nanotubes through magnetomotive instability