MEMS Shock Absorbers Integrated with Al2O3-Reinforced, Mechanically Resilient Nanotube Arrays

Dr. Eunhwan Jo and Professor Jongbaeg Kim's research team developed ceramic-reinforced carbon nanotube-based shock absorbers. The vertically aligned nanotube bundles, introduced in this study, can be selectively integrated into micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), which effectively protects micro mechanical structures that may be vulnerable to mechanical collisions. This research was presented as an oral presentation at 2023 36th IEEE MEMS Conference, the most prestigious academic conference in the field of MEMS. Also, on a basis of the excellence of the research, the presentation was selected as the Outstanding Student Oral Presentation Award Finalist, which is awarded only to 20 oral presenters among a total of 635 papers.
The research was conducted in collaboration with Harvard Medical School and is expected to be used in various MEMS devices such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, and micro mirrors, which are attracting attention as core parts of the Internet of Things, mobile devices, and future automobiles, to dramatically improve the impact stability of the devices.
*This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government(MSIT).