Emerging Nanoelectronic Devices

7Nano-Electro-Mechanical (NEM) Memory Devices

Adrian M. Ionescu

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland

7.1 Introduction and Rationale for a Memory Based on NEM Switch

In parallel with the tremendous progress of ultra-large scale integration (ULSI) of silicon CMOS, the engineering of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) for analog, Radio Frequency (RF), and sensing applications arrived to maturity because of the demand and growth of the portable electronic devices (smart phones, tablets and notebooks) [1]. Highly reliable accelerometers and gyroscopes exploiting MEMS structures are today in our portable devices and commercial versions of these devices, with low power consumption have revolutionized smart phone applications and created markets with exponential growth [2]. Radio-Frequency MEMS (RF MEMS) [3,4] offer improved circuit performance (reconfigurability and compactness) at high frequency (MHz to 100 GHz) combined with low-power static consumption and affordable technology costs. They also form another domain where similarly major progress has been experienced in strong connection with new portable applications. The convergence of NEMS and CMOS technology (fabrication platforms using compatible materials and process steps) was an essential factor for this success and it will be even more critical and interesting for future logic and memory applications based on the scaled version of the MEMS called nano-electro-mechanical systems (NEMS) [5,6].

It is accepted ...