Mechanically Operated Random Access Memory (MORAM) Based on an Electrostatic Microswitch for Nonvolatile Memory Applications

Abstract

<para xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> We proposed and demonstrated a mechanically operated random access memory (MORAM) based on an electrostatically actuated metallic microswitch for nonvolatile memory applications. The metallic microswitch-based MORAM successfully showed program and erase operations, wherein the microswitch had an essentially zero off current, an abrupt switching with less than 1 mV/dec, and an on/off current ratio over <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$ \hbox{10}^{7}$</tex></formula>, and its stored charge was investigated with the metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) capacitor. Moreover, first reported were an endurance of up to <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$\hbox{10}^{5}$</tex></formula> cycles in air ambient and a retention time of more than <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$\hbox{10}^{4}$</tex></formula> s in vacuum ambient. </para>