Fabrication of a rotary carbon nanotube bearing test apparatus

Abstract

Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) are attractive elements for bearings in MicroElectro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), because their structure comprises nested shells with no bonding and sub-nanometre spacing between them, enabling relative motion with low friction and wear. A reliable bearing technology is critical to bringing rotating MEMS machines from laboratory demonstrations to common use. We report here the design and fabrication of a test rotor, a testing apparatus and testing attempts, and integration of CNTs with MEMS. The device improves on existing CNT bearing demonstrators by establishing a vertical bearing orientation (enabling superior rotor balance and speed, and drive mechanism placement flexibility) and a manufacturable process (employing CNTs grown in place by chemical vapour deposition (CVD)). The main outstanding challenge to demonstrating rotation is available CVD CNT quality.