Nanoelectromechanical Systems (NEMS)

This chapter offers an update of the activities in the research and development of nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) over the past several years. It highlights work done on fundamental studies using NEMS, their transduction schemes, nonlinear behavior, NEMS fabrication, and incorporation of novel materials. Fundamental and characteristic properties of NEMS, for example, high surface‐to‐volume ratios, extremely small masses, and small onsets of nonlinearity, make NEMS an outstanding scientific tool to study different physical phenomena that would otherwise be not accessible. NEMS devices play a role in future electronics both in the analog and digital areas. High‐frequency NEMS are attracting more and more interest as a new class of sensors and actuators for potential applications to single (bio)molecule sensing. The impact of NEMS technology in the energy‐harvesting field, that is, a discipline aiming to convert ambient energy into useful electrical energy to power ultra low consumption ICT devices, is still incipient.