Nano-electromechanical (NEM) contact switches have been extensively studied to suppress the limitations of conventional complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistors. The attributes of NEM contact switches includes reduced power consumption, reduced off-state leakage current, increased on-state current and sub-thermal switching. However, unacceptably high pull-in voltage and low contact lifetime posed a significant challenge for the use of NEM contact switches in energy efficient CMOS applications. Here, we demonstrate a graphene-based electro-statically actuated NEM contact switches with ultra-low pull-in voltage and significant improvement in the contact lifetime. This was achieved by using the graphene on gold electrode as a contact material. The graphene NEM contact switches with graphene as a contact material exhibits an ultra-low pull-in voltage of < 0.5 V and high contact lifetime of more than 1.5×10 6 cycles. The switches also showed an excellent switching performance with high on/off ratio of ∼ 10 8 , an extremely low off-state current of ∼100 fA, and small hysteresis window of < 0.1 V.
Nano‐Electromechanical Contact Switches
Nano‐electromechanical (NEM) contact switches based on graphene–graphene van der Waals contacts are demonstrated by Jothiramalingam Kulothungan and Karthi Kandhasamy in article number 2200050. Graphene–graphene NEM contact switches with ultra‐low pull‐in voltage and significant improvement in the contact lifetime are achieved using the graphene on gold electrode as a contact material. The graphene NEM contact switches with graphene as a contact material exhibits an ultra‐low pull‐in voltage of < 0.5 V and high contact lifetime, suitable for a new generation of energy efficient electronics.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.