Friday July 1, 2005
Tuesday July 5, 2005

"Solid Immersion Lens Microscopy Techniques for Enhanced Optical Displacement Detection in Nanoelectromechanical Systems"
Mr. Devrez Karabacak
Boston University

D. Karabacak,1 T. Kouh,1 S. B. Ippolito,2 M.S. Ünlü,2 B.B. Goldberg2 and K. L. Ekinci1 1 Dept. of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, 2 Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, 02215 Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) are drawing interest from both technical and scientific communities. These are electromechanical systems — much like Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) — mostly operated in their resonant modes, with dimensions in the deep submicron. One of the fundamental challenges facing NEMS operation is the detection of sub-nanometer displacements of these devices at high frequencies. Optical interferometry techniques have been demonstrated as a successful scheme for displacement detection in NEMS operated at room temperature. However, the displacement sensitivity of such applications degrades rapidly in the domain of NEMS, where the diffraction limited optical spot size becomes larger than the relevant device dimensions. Solid immersion lens (SIL) microscopy has been established as a technique to improve the resolution of diffraction limited optics. Here, in an effort to remedy the aforementioned shortcomings of current interferometric detection methods, we explore the potential benefits of SIL integration with sub-wavelength resonant structures.