Nanoelectromechanical switches by controlled switchable cracking

Journal Article

Luo, Q., Z. Guo, H. Huang, Q. Zou, X. Jiang, S. Zhang, H. Wang, M. Song, B. Zhang, H. Chen, H. Gu, G. Han, X. Yang, X. Zou, K.-Y. Wang, Z. Liu, J. Hong, Ramamoorthy Ramesh, L. You

10.1109/LED.2019.2917924

Nanoelectromechanical (NEM) switches could surmount the Boltzmann Tyranny in the current charge-carrier systems. However, thus far, practical implementations of the NEM systems have been hindered by the complicated fabrication processes of forming the extremely small air gap. Here, we realize a very simple NEM switch by exploiting a switchable nanocrack controlled by an electric field in a metallic alloy-ferroelectric heterostructure. The crack is formed in a controllable manner in terms of its initiation, location, and orientation through a bridge-like structure. The open and closed states of the crack are programmed under a cyclic electric field. In addition, an abrupt switching behavior with a nonvolatile high ON/OFF current ratio (>107) is measured owing to the near-zero OFF-state leakage current across the crack. This simple nanocrack switch presents a novel opportunity in the NEM systems, which can be used as a new nonvolatile random-access memory and logic. © 1980-2012 IEEE.

IEEE Electron Device Letters

40

2019

07413106

Ramesh Lab