Gigahertz multimode vibrations in graphene and MoS<sub>2</sub> nanomechanical resonators at room temperature.

Jia, Hao; Ye, Fan; Feng, Philip X-L · Sci Adv · 2026

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Probing and understanding ultrahigh-frequency/gigahertz (UHF/GHz) vibrations in atomic layer nanomechanical resonators holds strong promise for fundamental studies and technological applications, such as sensing, signal processing, and quantum engineering. However, accessing GHz flexural-mode resonances in such devices at room temperature has been challenging. Here, we demonstrate the first measurement of GHz flexural vibrations in graphene and molybdenum disulfide (MoS<sub>2</sub>) resonators at room temperature, achieving multimode resonances (<i>f</i><sub><i>m</i>,<i>n</i></sub>) up to ~1.09 GHz and quality factors (<i>Q</i><sub><i>m</i>,<i>n</i></sub>) up to ~5400 in multilayer MoS<sub>2</sub> resonators, and <i>f</i><sub><i>m</i>,<i>n</i></sub> up to ~1.03 GHz with high <i>Q</i><sub><i>m</i>,<i>n</i></sub> ~4500 in few-layer graphene resonators. Both <i>f</i>s and <i>Q</i>s are the highest among reported atomic layer nanomechanical resonators at room temperature, yielding <i>f</i><sub><i>m</i>,<i>n</i></sub> × <i>Q</i><sub><i>m</i>,<i>n</i></sub> ~ 5 × 10<sup>12</sup> Hz. We also reveal a <i>Q</i> scaling law with higher modes, which favors detecting GHz resonances. This study will enable exploiting multiple modes in atomic layer resonators toward resonant sensing and transduction functions at UHF/GHz.