2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenide (TMDC) Nanoelectromechanical Resonators

With the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), new sensors and signal processing elements that consume near-zero power to operate on resonance, have high tunability and small form factor are necessary. The ultralow mass and large resonance tunability make resonant two-dimensional (2D) nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) suitable for ultrasensitive mass, force and biomolecular sensing, radio-frequency (RF) front end, and strain-tunable devices for memory and computing. Among the 2D materials, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have ultralow mass, sizable bandgap, large Young's modulus, and high strain limit, thus the 2D TMDC resonators only require picowatt level of power for sustaining the strong and stable resonance operations, have intriguing electromechanical coupling properties, have high frequency, and are highly tunable by strain. In this manuscript, we summarize the recent advances in 2D TMDC NEMS resonators, and show their potential applications. These TMDC resonators open new opportunities towards new types of sensors, RF signal processing elements, and computing devices that require near-zero power to operate on resonance, and at the same time, have wide dynamic ranges and tuning ranges.