Abstract
To enable energy-efficient electronic devices for the future, nano-electro-mechanical (NEM) relays are promising due to their high ON/OFF current ratio and potential for low operating voltage. To minimize hysteresis and, consequently, relay operating voltage, it is imperative to reduce the relay contact adhesion, which can be achieved by coating the contacts with anti-stiction self-assembled monolayers. Herein we report a 71% reduction in hysteresis voltage by utilizing a branched perfluorocarbon antistiction molecule: Perfluoro (2,3-Dimethylbutan-2-ol) (PDB) on top of the tungsten contact surfaces. Experimental results show the operation of a PDB-coated NEM relay with abrupt switching, undetectably low OFF-state current, hysteresis voltage as low as 20 mV, and a large ON/OFF current ratio (>107).
Highlights
The relays coated with these self-assembled molecular scitation.org/journal/adv layers have shown low hysteresis voltage stability over 100 gate voltage sweeps12 and a turn on delay of 1.5 μS with 50 mV operation voltage.13 The silane functional head group in these molecules facilitates self-assembly onto the contacting electrodes, while their fluorinated spacer group and a CF3 terminal group help to reduce surface adhesion energy
Reducing adhesion by inserting more difluoromethanes in the backbone chain of self-assembled molecules happens at the expense of degrading the ON-state conduction and switching slope of a nano-electro-mechanical switches (NEMs) relay
To characterize the PDB coating, PDB was grown on a silicon wafer coated with 60 nm of tungsten, using a vapor-phase self-assembly process
Summary
The relays coated with these self-assembled molecular scitation.org/journal/adv layers have shown low hysteresis voltage stability over 100 gate voltage sweeps12 and a turn on delay of 1.5 μS with 50 mV operation voltage.13 The silane functional head group in these molecules facilitates self-assembly onto the contacting electrodes, while their fluorinated spacer group and a CF3 terminal group help to reduce surface adhesion energy. Reducing adhesion by inserting more difluoromethanes in the backbone chain of self-assembled molecules happens at the expense of degrading the ON-state conduction and switching slope of a NEM relay.
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