Silicon carbide reinforced vertically aligned carbon nanotube composite for harsh environment mems
Jiarui Mo (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
Shreyas Shankar (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
Guoqi Zhang (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
Sten Vollebregt (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
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Abstract
Fabricating high-aspect-ratio (HAR) structures with silicon carbide (SiC) is a challenging task. This paper presents a silicon carbide (SiC) reinforced vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNT) composite as a promising candidate to fabricate HAR MEMS devices for harsh environment applications. The use of a VACNT array allows the fast realization of HAR structures as a template for MEMS fabrication. The template can later be easily filled by amorphous-SiC due to the porous nature of the VACNT forest. The SiC-CNT nanocomposite has electrical properties dominated by VACNT arrays and mechanical stability dominated by the a-SiC. Based on this concept, a thermal actuator is fabricated and proven to function up to 450°C for the first time.