A new technical paper titled “Volatile and non-volatile nano-electromechanical switches fabricated in a CMOS-compatible silicon-on-insulator foundry process” was published by researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, University of Bristol, EPFL, imec, and Ghent University.
Abstract
“Nanoelectromechanical (NEM) switches have the advantages of zero leakage current, abrupt switching characteristics, and harsh environmental capabilities. This makes them a promising component for digital computing circuits when high energy efficiency under extreme environmental conditions is important. However, to make NEM-based logic circuits commercially viable, NEM switches must be manufacturable in existing semiconductor foundry platforms to guarantee reliable switch fabrication and very large-scale integration densities, which remains a big challenge. Here, we demonstrate the use of a commercial silicon-on-insulator (SOI) foundry platform (iSiPP50G by IMEC, Belgium) to implement monolithically integrated silicon (Si) NEM switches. Using this SOI foundry platform featuring sub-200 nm lithography technology, we implemented two different types of NEM switches: (1) a volatile 3-terminal (3-T) NEM switch with a low actuation voltage of 5.6 V and (2) a bi-stable 7-terminal (7-T) NEM switch, featuring either volatile or non-volatile switching behavior, depending on the switch contact design. The experimental results presented here show how an established CMOS-compatible SOI foundry process can be utilized to realize highly integrated Si NEM switches, removing a significant barrier towards scalable manufacturing of high performance and high-density NEM-based programmable logic circuits and non-volatile memories.”
Find the technical paper here. July 2025.
Li, Y., Bleiker, S.J., Worsey, E. et al. Volatile and non-volatile nano-electromechanical switches fabricated in a CMOS-compatible silicon-on-insulator foundry process. Microsyst Nanoeng 11, 140 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-025-00964-w
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