Effective nanometer airgap of NEMS devices using negative capacitance of ferroelectric materials.

Nanoelectromechnical system (NEMS) is seen as one of the most promising candidates for next generation extreme low power electronics that can operate as a versatile switch/memory/sensor/display element. One of the main challenges toward this goal lies in the fabrication difficulties of ultrascaled NEMS required for high density integrated circuits. It is generally understood that fabricating and operating a NEMS with an airgap below a few nanometer will be extremely challenging due to surface roughness, nonideal forces, tunneling, etc. Here, we show that by cascading a NEMS with a ferroelectric capacitor, operating in the negative capacitance regime, the effective airgap can be reduced by almost an order of magnitude, without the need to reduce the airgap physically. This would not only reduce the pull-in voltage to sub-1 V regime, but also would offer a set of characteristics which are difficult/impossible to achieve otherwise. For example, one can reduce/increase the classical travel range, flip the traditional stable-unstable regime of the electrode, get a negative pull-out voltage, and thus, center the hysteresis around zero volt. Moreover, one can also operate the combination as an effective ferroelectric memory with much reduced switching voltages. These characteristics promise dramatic saving in power for NEMS-based switching, memory, and other related applications.