Freestanding ultra-thin silica

Electrical and thermal conduction in ultra-thin freestanding atomic layer deposited W nanobridges.

Work presented here measures and interprets the electrical and thermal conductivities of atomic layer deposited (ALD) free-standing single film and periodic tungsten and aluminum oxide nanobridges with thicknesses from ∼5-20 nm and ∼3-13 nm, respectively. Electrical conductivity of the W films is reduced by up to 99% from bulk, while thermal conductivity is reduced by up to 91%. Results indicat...

Chain entanglement in thin freestanding polymer films.

When a thin glassy film is strained uniaxially, a shear deformation zone (SDZ) can be observed. The ratio of the thickness of the SDZ to that of the undeformed film is related to the maximum extension ratio, lambda, which depends on the entanglement molecular weight, M(e). We have measured lambda as a function of film thickness in strained freestanding films of polystyrene as a probe of M(e) in...

Unusual ultra-low-frequency fluctuations in freestanding graphene.

Intrinsic ripples in freestanding graphene have been exceedingly difficult to study. Individual ripple geometry was recently imaged using scanning tunnelling microscopy, but these measurements are limited to static configurations. Thermally-activated flexural phonon modes should generate dynamic changes in curvature. Here we show how to track the vertical movement of a one-square-angstrom regio...

Ultra-Clean Freestanding Graphene by Platinum- Metal Catalysis

Ultra Low Cycle Fatigue of Axisymmetric Freestanding Nanoscale Gold Films

We present ultra low-cycle fatigue experiments of axisymmetric nano-crystalline gold films of nano-thickness deformed by a spherical indenter using a recently developed freestanding membrane test. Freestanding membranes of gold were centrally deflected using a spherical indenter attached to a MEMS load cell. Fabrication of the films for these experiments yielded films 100 nm thick and 500 μm in...