Reconfigurable Submicron Electromechanical Switch with Volatile/Non-Volatile Conversion for Radiation-Hardened...

Micro- and nanoelectromechanical (MEM/NEM) switches, capable of reliable operation in high-radiation environments, hold great potential for applications in nuclear and space industries. However, a MEM/NEM computational system typically requires both volatile switches for logic computing and non-volatile switches for memory. To date, a single MEM/NEM switch that can operate in both of these two function modes has not been demonstrated. Here, a reconfigurable submicron electromechanical switch is reported with on-demand volatile/non-volatile conversion, enabled by a well-engineered nanowire (NW) cantilever. Under an applied magnetic field, the NW-switch can be selectively operated in either volatile or non-volatile mode by simply choosing a suitable ON-state bias current, leveraging bidirectional Lorentz forces. Furthermore, the reset operation for the non-volatile mode is achieved by applying a reverse driving current, which effectively modulates the balance among the vectorial Lorentz, mechanical restoring, and adhesive forces. For the first time, the radiation-hard performance of this switch has been tested experimentally in 10 Mrad ⁶⁰Co gamma irradiation, and demonstrates no performance degradation, far exceeding the radiation tolerance limit of silicon-based transistors (1 Mrad). The NW-based electromechanical switch provides possibilities for unified integration of logic and memory in radiation-hardened electronics, enabling reduced data transfer time and lower power consumption.