Design and fabrication of MEMS logic gates

Abstract

This paper presents a novel design of MEMS logic gate that can perform Boolean algebra the same as logic devices that are composed of solid-state transistors. This MEMS logic gate design inherits all the advantages from MEMS switches and thus is expected to have more applications than MEMS switches. One unique feature of this device is that it can perform either NAND gate or NOR gate functions with the same mechanical structure but with different electrical interconnects. In a prototype design, the device is 250 µm long, 100 µm wide and has 1 µm gap. The experimental results show that this device can operate at 10/0 V and achieve the proposed logic functions. The resonant frequency of the device is measured roughly at 30 kHz. Due to no metal-to-metal contact in the current device, the logic functions of the design are verified through observations and video taping.

An Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of a Micromirror Under Mixed-Frequency Excitation

“…Also, seesaw type motion of a micro mirror has enabled the design of complementary universal MEMS logic devices [34,35]. The dynamics of micro mirrors under mixed-frequency excitation has not yet been explored.…”

Microelectromechanical XNOR and XOR logic devices

“…Furthermore, the effect of radiation such as cosmic rays can no longer be ignored with the semiconductor devices of recent years which have been designed with increasingly high density and speed for use on earth. These considerations have spurred on research into various MEMS logic circuits [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. However, most of the previous studies concern the simple replacement of the transistor switch, used in the logic circuits constructed from transistors, with a MEMS switch.…”

Tunable mechanical coupling between driven microelectromechanical resonators

“…In contrast, the effective spring constant of the system is insensitive to either of them and changes only by ±0.5%. Finally, we show that the comb-drive actuator can be used to switch between different coupling rates with a frequency of at least 10 kHz.Micro-and nanoelectromechanical resonators have attracted much attention thanks to their potential application as sensors [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8], filters [9][10][11], amplifiers [12,13], and logic gates [14], with frequencies varying from the kHz to the GHz range [15][16][17]. By applying tension, the resonance frequencies can be tuned in-situ [18][19][20].…”