Graphene opens up new applications for tiny resonators

A range of sensing and communications technologies, such as satellites, already rely on tiny devices called resonators. These resonators operate like the skin of a drum, vibrating at certain frequencies when struck by stimuli, such as molecules or photons. But engineers have faced limits in the temperatures these components can withstand and the range of frequencies that they can pick up. Now, scientists at Case Western University have constructed resonators out of a single layer of graphene that can withstand high temperatures and operate across a broad range of frequencies (Nano Lett. 2018, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b04685). Philip Feng and colleagues carved circular drumheads 3–5 µm in diameter out of silicon and then placed flakes of graphene across the openings. Their devices have an unprecedentedly broad tuning range of 300%, Feng says. Also, they can function at temperatures that exceed 900 °C, opening up myriad additional applications for resonators that can operate in harsh environments or in space.