OXINEMS

NEMS devices from transition metal oxides for ultrasensitive brain activity detection.

Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) are chip-level devices integrating mechanical elements, sensors, actuators and electronics that can sense or control the physical environment using nanofabrication technology. The EU-funded OXiNEMS project plans to develop NEMS devices made entirely from transition metal oxides, which display a wide range of interesting physical properties, such as magnetoelectricity, electro-optic effects, multiferroicity, ferromagnetism and superconductivity. Researchers plan to realise a proof-of-concept NEMS device based on these materials to measure the very weak magnetic fields generated by brain activity. Importantly, these ultrasensitive detectors will be extremely resistant to applied magnetic fields, overcoming the operational limitations of the superconducting quantum interference devices currently used worldwide for probing the functions of the human brain.