Dynamic Similarity Principle for Nanoscale Resonant Devices in Gaseous Environments

The mechanical performance of cantilevers on the nanoscale operating in atmosphere is dominated by gas damping. However, theoretical modeling of gas-solid interactions on the nanoscale is non-trivial due to the non-continuum nature of the gas flow. In addition, these gas-structure interactions can significantly affect the sensitivity of these devices. Instead of using numerical simulations to determine the gas flow and consequently, gas damping, of a nanoscale device, we used a general dynamic similarity principle to determine the gas damping of a nanoscale device by measuring the gas damping of a scaled up prototype device.