Effects of surface forces and phonon dissipation in a three-terminal nanorelay

Abstract

We have performed a theoretical analysis of the operational characteristics of a carbon-nanotubebased three-terminal nanorelay. We show that short range and van der Waals forces have a significant impact on the characteristics of the relay and introduce design constraints. We also investigate the effects of dissipation due to phonon excitation in the drain contact, which changes the switching time scales of the system, decreasing the longest time scale by two orders of magnitude. We show that the nanorelay can be used as a memory element and investigate the dynamics and properties of such a device.

Carbon-nanotube-based nanoelectromechanical switch

“…Atomistic capacitance models based on quantum models [17] and classical capacitance models have been used for CNT-NEMSs [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Atomistic capacitance models by classical models were different from those by quantum models in the both edge regions of the CNT-bridge contacted with metal electrodes [5].…”

“…The electrostatic atomistic capacitance models for the analysis of CNT-NEMS have been investigated [5,9,17]. While the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the CNT-relay have been investigated [8,10,11], the I-V characteristics of the CNT-NEM memory devices have been nearly investigated in theoretical work. To model CNT-NEM memory operation, the current due to the charge transfer should be included, and then, non-electrostatic interactions and current models induced by the charge transfer should be considered.…”

“…The resulting capacitive force between CNT and the gate bends CNT and brings the CNT into contact with the substrate. CNT-based nanorelays [8][9][10][11][12][13] that have been intensively investigated were acted as a switch and memory devices in the gigahertz regime and to be potentially suitable for applications such as logic devices, memory elements, pulse generators, and current or voltage amplifiers [9]. Recently, Nantero Inc. presented the NEM memory array based on suspended CNTs [14], called nanotube random access memory.…”

Nonlinear resonance in a three-terminal carbon nanotube resonator

“…Such devices have since been successfully fabricated [9,10,11]. In [6,7,9,10,11] the device was considered mainly operating as a switch and transduction was based on a tunneling current between the tube tip and the drain terminal. In a subsequent publication [12] also the high frequency properties were considered and nonlinear resonant behavior was demonstrated.…”

“…In [6,7,8] one specific such carbon-nanotube-based system was considered: a threeterminal nanomechanical relay with a layout similar the one in figure 1. Such devices have since been successfully fabricated [9,10,11].…”