A Bistable Electrostatic Silicon Nanofin Relay for Nonvolatile Memory Application

We present a nanoelectromechanical (NEM) relay that is capable of demonstrating two stable states without on-hold power due to the influence of van der Waals force. This is realized by leveraging a silicon nanofin (SiNF) as a relay that can switch between two lateral terminals. The smallest dimension of the SiNF is 80-nm width by 2-mu m length. The SiNF is able to maintain its geometrical position even after the bias voltage is turned off. Bistable hysteresis behavior with pull-in voltage (V-PI) and reset voltage (V-RESET) as low as 8.4 and 10.1 V is measured. The nanoscale footprint of this device shows great potential for high-density nonvolatile memory applications. [2013-0109]