A 6.7 MHz nanoelectromechanical ring oscillator using curved cantilever switches coated with amorphous carbon

Nanoelectromechanical (NEM) switches have the potential to complement or replace traditional CMOS transistors in the area of ultra-low power digital electronics. This paper reports the demonstration of the first ring oscillator built using cell-level digital logic elements based on curved NEM switch...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in2014 44th European Solid State Device Research Conference (ESSDERC) pp. 66 - 69
Main Authors Ayala, Christopher L., Grogg, Daniel, Bazigos, Antonios, Badia, Montserrat Fernandez-Bolanos, Duerig, Urs T., Despont, Michel, Hagleitner, Christoph
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.09.2014
Subjects
amorphous carbon
Carbon
Contacts
Current measurement
curved cantilever
digital logic design
Inverters
NEM switches
NEMS
ring oscillator
Ring oscillators
VLSI
Voltage measurement
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Summary:Nanoelectromechanical (NEM) switches have the potential to complement or replace traditional CMOS transistors in the area of ultra-low power digital electronics. This paper reports the demonstration of the first ring oscillator built using cell-level digital logic elements based on curved NEM switches. The NEM switch has a size of 5×3 μm 2 , an air gap of 60 nm and is coated with amorphous carbon (a-C) for reliable operation. The ring oscillator operates at a frequency of 6.7 MHz and confirms the simulated inverter propagation delay of 25 ns. The successful fabrication and measurement of this demonstrator is a key milestone on the way towards an optimized, scaled technology with sub-nanosecond switching times, lower operating voltages and VLSI implementation.
ISBN:9781479943784
1479943789
ISSN:1930-8876
DOI:10.1109/ESSDERC.2014.6948759