Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Silicon Nanowire Electromechanical Switches for Logic Device Application

Published

Author(s)

Qiliang Li, Sang-Mo Koo, Monica D. Edelstein, John S. Suehle, Curt A. Richter

Abstract

Electromechanical switches consisting of chemical-vapor-deposition grown silicon nanowires suspended over metal electrodes have been fabricated successfully by using single nanowires manipulation and compatible photolithographic processes. The switches are sharply turned on when the suspended part of nanowire is bent to touch the bottom metal electrode by applying an electric field across the devices. These reversible switching characteristics are observed from both two and three terminal switches. The large ON/OFF ratio of the devices combined with their simple structures which streamline the fabrication process makes them attractive for use in nanoelectromechanical system applications such as logic switches and memory devices.
Citation
Nanotechnology
Volume
18

Keywords

electromechanical switch, nanowire, threshold voltage

Citation

Li, Q. , Koo, S. , Edelstein, M. , Suehle, J. and Richter, C. (2007), Silicon Nanowire Electromechanical Switches for Logic Device Application, Nanotechnology, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=32567 (Accessed March 29, 2024)
Created July 5, 2007, Updated October 12, 2021