Body-Biased Multiple-Gate Micro-Electro-Mechanical Relays

Micro-electro-mechanical relays with multiple gate electrodes (i.e., multiple input voltage signals), operated with a tunable body bias voltage, are investigated for more compact and energy-efficient implementation of digital logic circuits. Specifically, a relay design with three gate electrodes of equal area is demonstrated to be capable of performing different digital logic functions for the same input operating voltage (VDD), by adjusting the body bias voltage. Since the lower limit for VDD is equal to the switching hysteresis voltage (VH), the magnitude of VH is investigated for different combinations of transitioning input voltage signals. It is found that VH is larger for fewer transitioning input voltage signals, i.e., reduced effective actuation area of the switching input voltage signal. This can set a practical upper limit for the number of independent gates in a single relay.