Manufacture of a nanotweezer using a length controlled CNT arm

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a new method to make a nanotweezer composed of two carbon nanotube (CNT) arms. We fabricated the CNT arm by attaching a multi-wall carbon nanotube on a tungsten-tip via manual assembly. The closing actuation of the nanotweezer is simulated and the simulation is compared with experimental results. Since each CNT arm has a macro actuator, namely a separated tweezer arm, it is possible to close and open the nanotweezer repeatedly. Electrochemical etching is used to cut the carbon nanotube in the CNT arm and the cutting resolution is approximately a few hundred nanometers. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.