The unique properties and atomic thickness of two-dimensional (2D) materials enable smaller and better nanoelectromechanical sensors with novel functionalities. During the last decade, many studies have successfully shown the feasibility of using suspended membranes of 2D materials in pressure sensors, microphones, accelerometers, and mass and gas sensors. In this review, we explain the different sensing concepts and give an overview of the relevant material properties, fabrication routes, and device operation principles. Finally, we discuss sensor readout and integration methods and provide comparisons against the state of the art to show both the challenges and promises of 2D material-based nanoelectromechanical sensing.

In this paper key challenges posed on metrology by feature dimensions of 20nm and below are discussed. In detail, the need for software-based tools for SEM image acquisition and image analysis in environments where CD-SEMs are not available and/or not flexible enough to cover all inspection tasks is outlined. These environments include research at universities as well as industrial R and D environments focused on non-IC applications. The benefits of combining automated image acquisition and analysis with computational techniques to simulate image generation in a conventional analytical SEM with respect to the overall reliability, precision and speed of inspection will be demonstrated using real-life inspection tasks as demonstrators.