Carbon-Based Materials: Growth, Properties, MEMS/NEMS Technologies, and MEM/NEM Switches

Micro- or nanoelectromechanical system (MEMS/NEMS) is a multidisciplinary field, which has witnessed explosive growth during the past decades. The current materials for MEMS are dominated by Si thanks to the fully based technology for CMOS. However, Si has its own intrinsic limitations such as poor mechanical or tribological properties and poor thermal stability. Carbon-based materials such as diamond, carbon nanotube, and graphene possess excellent properties such as low mass, high Young's modulus, high thermal conductivity, hydrophobic surface, and tailorable electronic configuration, which make these materials promising for MEMS/NEMS applications with diverse and much better performance than Si. In this review, we describe the recent progress of carbon-based materials for MEMS/NEMS with focus on diamond, carbon nanotube, and graphene. The growth of these carbon materials is briefly described and only selected properties are discussed with respect to MEMS/NEMS applications. The fabrication process for suspended structures of these materials toward MEMS/NEMS is comprehensively reviewed from the recent literatures. Special attention is devoted to the state-of-the-art of MEM/NEM switches based on these carbon materials, one of the most important fields in MEMS/NEMS. Finally, the application of carbon-based MEM/NEM switches to microwave field is critically analyzed.