Integrated 4-terminal single-contact nanoelectromechanical relays implemented in a silicon-on-insulator foundry processShow others and affiliations
2023 (English)In: Nanoscale, ISSN 2040-3364, E-ISSN 2040-3372, Vol. 15, no 43, p. 17335-17341Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Integrated nanoelectromechanical (NEM) relays can be used instead of transistors to implement ultra-low power logic circuits, due to their abrupt turn-off characteristics and zero off-state leakage. Further, realizing circuits with 4-terminal (4-T) NEM relays enables significant reduction in circuit device count compared to conventional transistor circuits. For practical 4-T NEM circuits, however, the relays need to be miniaturized and integrated with high-density back-end-of-line (BEOL) interconnects, which is challenging and has not been realized to date. Here, we present electrostatically actuated silicon 4-T NEM relays that are integrated with multi-layer BEOL metal interconnects, implemented using a commercial silicon-on-insulator (SOI) foundry process. We demonstrate 4-T switching and the use of body-biasing to reduce pull-in voltage of a relay with a 300 nm airgap, from 15.8 V to 7.8 V, consistent with predictions of the finite-element model. Our 4-T NEM relay technology enables new possibilities for realizing NEM-based circuits for applications demanding harsh environment computation and zero standby power, in industries such as automotive, Internet-of-Things, and aerospace.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Royal Society of Chemistry, 2023. Vol. 15, no 43, p. 17335-17341
National Category
Engineering and Technology
Research subject
Electrical Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-339308DOI: 10.1039/D3NR03429AISI: 001085474400001PubMedID: 37856244Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85175573525OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-339308DiVA, id: diva2:1810174
Funder
EU, Horizon 2020, 871740
Note
QC 20231113
2023-11-072023-11-072025-03-27Bibliographically approved