Hybrid Nanoelectromechanical Switch and Resistive Memory in Silicon Nanowires by VLSI NEMS

Logic and memory have been separated components in mainstream computing architectures. In highly scaled nanoelectronic devices, power consumption in data transfer has been an increasingly important challenge. Here we propose and demonstrate that suspended, movable silicon nanowires (SiNWs) can enable a new type of voltage-programmable hybrid device consisting of a nanoelectro-mechanical switch and a resistive switching memory. During nanoelectromechanical switching, the device shows minimal leakage in the off state. We design the suspended SiNW so that after it is in contact with the actuating electrode, the contact is maintained even after the programming voltage turns off, thus forming a one-time-programmable antifuse. In maintained contact mode, the device further shows resistive switching behavior. Making use of the native oxide on the SiNWs as the dielectric medium, the resistive switching memory operates at a very low current on the order of 10 - 100 nA, which is beneficial for reducing the leakage towards memory array integration. Such a programmable hybrid nanoelectromechanical logic and resistive switching memory device may be promising for new logic-memory integration architectures.