Single-contact, four-terminal microelectromechanical relay for efficient digital logic

Jamie D Reynolds; Sunil Rana; Elliott Worsey; Qi Tang; Mukesh Kumar Kulsreshath; Harold Chong; I D B Pamunuwa

doi:10.1002/aelm.202200584

Single-contact, four-terminal microelectromechanical relay for efficient digital logic

Jamie D Reynolds, Sunil Rana, Elliott Worsey, Qi Tang, Mukesh Kumar Kulsreshath, Harold Chong, I D B Pamunuwa^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Nano and microelectromechanical relays can be used in lieu of transistors to build digital integrated circuits that can operate with zero leakage current at high operating temperatures and radiation levels. Four-terminal (4-T) relays facilitate efficient logic circuits with greatly reduced device counts compared to three-terminal (3-T) relay implementations. Existing 4-T relays, however, require two moving contacts to simultaneously land on two stationary electrodes, which can adversely impact reliability, or have complex out-of-plane fabrication methods that can reduce yield and increase cost while having poor scalability. In this work an in-plane four-terminal relay with a single moving contact is demonstrated for the first time, through successful fabrication and characterization of prototypes with a critical dimension of 1.5 μm. Body biasing is shown to reduce the pull-in voltage of this 4-T relay compared to a 3-T relay with the same architecture and footprint. The potential of the 4-T relay to build efficient logic circuits is demonstrated by fabricating and characterizing a 1-to-2 demultiplexer (DEMUX) circuit using only two devices, a saving of eight devices over a 3-T relay implementation.

Original language	English
Article number	2200584
Number of pages	9
Journal	Advanced Electronic Materials
Early online date	6 Sept 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202200584
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 6 Sept 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research received funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Research Fellowship (RCSRF1920‐9‐53) awarded to D.P. and the EU H2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 871740 (ZeroAMP). This work was also supported by the University of Bristol Cleanroom Facility through UK EPSRC grant QuPIC (EP/N015126/1) and the Nanofabrication Centre at the University of Southampton through EPSRC Platform Grant EP/N013247/1.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Advanced Electronic Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

Keywords

nanoelectromechanical, microelectromechanical, four-terminal, body biasing, relay-based cir- cuits, demultiplexer, nanocrystalline graphite

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This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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title = "Single-contact, four-terminal microelectromechanical relay for efficient digital logic",

abstract = "Nano and microelectromechanical relays can be used in lieu of transistors to build digital integrated circuits that can operate with zero leakage current at high operating temperatures and radiation levels. Four-terminal (4-T) relays facilitate efficient logic circuits with greatly reduced device counts compared to three-terminal (3-T) relay implementations. Existing 4-T relays, however, require two moving contacts to simultaneously land on two stationary electrodes, which can adversely impact reliability, or have complex out-of-plane fabrication methods that can reduce yield and increase cost while having poor scalability. In this work an in-plane four-terminal relay with a single moving contact is demonstrated for the first time, through successful fabrication and characterization of prototypes with a critical dimension of 1.5 μm. Body biasing is shown to reduce the pull-in voltage of this 4-T relay compared to a 3-T relay with the same architecture and footprint. The potential of the 4-T relay to build efficient logic circuits is demonstrated by fabricating and characterizing a 1-to-2 demultiplexer (DEMUX) circuit using only two devices, a saving of eight devices over a 3-T relay implementation.",

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note = "Funding Information: This research received funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Research Fellowship (RCSRF1920‐9‐53) awarded to D.P. and the EU H2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 871740 (ZeroAMP). This work was also supported by the University of Bristol Cleanroom Facility through UK EPSRC grant QuPIC (EP/N015126/1) and the Nanofabrication Centre at the University of Southampton through EPSRC Platform Grant EP/N013247/1. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors. Advanced Electronic Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.",

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AU - Tang, Qi

AU - Kulsreshath, Mukesh Kumar

AU - Chong, Harold

AU - Pamunuwa, I D B

N1 - Funding Information: This research received funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Research Fellowship (RCSRF1920‐9‐53) awarded to D.P. and the EU H2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 871740 (ZeroAMP). This work was also supported by the University of Bristol Cleanroom Facility through UK EPSRC grant QuPIC (EP/N015126/1) and the Nanofabrication Centre at the University of Southampton through EPSRC Platform Grant EP/N013247/1. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Advanced Electronic Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

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N2 - Nano and microelectromechanical relays can be used in lieu of transistors to build digital integrated circuits that can operate with zero leakage current at high operating temperatures and radiation levels. Four-terminal (4-T) relays facilitate efficient logic circuits with greatly reduced device counts compared to three-terminal (3-T) relay implementations. Existing 4-T relays, however, require two moving contacts to simultaneously land on two stationary electrodes, which can adversely impact reliability, or have complex out-of-plane fabrication methods that can reduce yield and increase cost while having poor scalability. In this work an in-plane four-terminal relay with a single moving contact is demonstrated for the first time, through successful fabrication and characterization of prototypes with a critical dimension of 1.5 μm. Body biasing is shown to reduce the pull-in voltage of this 4-T relay compared to a 3-T relay with the same architecture and footprint. The potential of the 4-T relay to build efficient logic circuits is demonstrated by fabricating and characterizing a 1-to-2 demultiplexer (DEMUX) circuit using only two devices, a saving of eight devices over a 3-T relay implementation.

AB - Nano and microelectromechanical relays can be used in lieu of transistors to build digital integrated circuits that can operate with zero leakage current at high operating temperatures and radiation levels. Four-terminal (4-T) relays facilitate efficient logic circuits with greatly reduced device counts compared to three-terminal (3-T) relay implementations. Existing 4-T relays, however, require two moving contacts to simultaneously land on two stationary electrodes, which can adversely impact reliability, or have complex out-of-plane fabrication methods that can reduce yield and increase cost while having poor scalability. In this work an in-plane four-terminal relay with a single moving contact is demonstrated for the first time, through successful fabrication and characterization of prototypes with a critical dimension of 1.5 μm. Body biasing is shown to reduce the pull-in voltage of this 4-T relay compared to a 3-T relay with the same architecture and footprint. The potential of the 4-T relay to build efficient logic circuits is demonstrated by fabricating and characterizing a 1-to-2 demultiplexer (DEMUX) circuit using only two devices, a saving of eight devices over a 3-T relay implementation.

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Single-contact, four-terminal microelectromechanical relay for efficient digital logic

Abstract

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Keywords

UN SDGs

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