Scott Bunch

Fabrication and Characterization of Atomically Thin Nanomechanical Resonators

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
This project involves fabrication and characterization of mechanical resonators from atomically thin 2D materials such as MoS2 and WSe2. The mechanical resonators can be thought of as atomically thin drumheads which vibrate millions of times per second. Among their application are mass sensing, pressure sensing, or signal processing. The goal of this project is to fabricate the material in the 2D form (i.e. having the thickness equal to a single atomic layer) and integrate them into drumhead resonators and measure their frequency of oscillation using laser interferometry. Each of two goals will be assigned to one of the program’s participants. The RET participant will focus on the former, while REU will focus on the latter. The RET participant will learn how to operate a furnace to grow MoS2 and also try to replicate the process for the new material WSe2.

LABORATORY MENTOR
Fartash Samie Yousefi (PhD student)

RESEARCH GOALS
• The participants are expected to provide results that can be eventually used and referenced in future experiments, and ideally, be a part of future publications.
• The RET participant will use a chemical vapor deposition method to fabricate single layer WSe2 membranes. Ideally, if they will be able to optimize the process before the end of the program, that will give the lab a new material to pursue further study with.
• The REU participant will work directly on some parts of the graduate student’s project. They will be assigned to measure the properties of the MoS2 resonators fabricated by the graduate student. The data measured by the REU student will be compared to and added to the compiled data of the graduate student’s project. Depending on the progress of the student, they might be assigned to design their own set of unique experiments, and if interested, they can also help with the data analysis.

LEARNING GOALS
• Have a grasp on the general overview of how different nanotechnology/materials science research is conducted in an academic lab environment.
• In addition to learning the process of scientific experimentation and presentation by conducting their own experiments, each participant will also learn more detailed scientific topics based on the tasks assigned to them.
• Grow a 2D material, MoS2
• How to start another growth process on their own. Learning the growth project includes getting to know the materials being used, how to use each individual equipment of the growth setup such as a furnace and flow meters, and which parameters (such as temperature, pressure, etc.) can affect the outcome of the crystal growth.

TIMELINE
Early July: RET participant joins the lab and get trained on the growth process
Mid July: RET participant works on optimizing the WSe2 growth.
Early August: Participants finish the experiments, start compiling data, and prepare their final posters.

Learn more about Scott Bunch on his faculty page.