Mechanically Operated Random Access Memory (MORAM) Based on an Electrostatic Microswitch for Nonvolatile Memory Applications

We proposed and demonstrated a mechanically operated random access memory (MORAM) based on an electrostatically actuated metallic microswitch for nonvolatile memory applications. The metallic microswitch-based MORAM successfully showed program and erase operations, wherein the microswitch had an essentially zero off current, an abrupt switching with less than 1 mV/dec, and an on/off current ratio over 10(7), and its stored charge was investigated with the metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor. Moreover, first reported were an endurance of up to 10(5) cycles in air ambient and a retention time of more than 10(4) s in vacuum ambient.