Demonstration of 50-mV Digital Integrated Circuits with Microelectromechanical Relays

50-mV operation of digital integrated circuits at room temperature is demonstrated for the first time using body-biased microelectromechanical relays. An improved relay design and self-assembled molecular coating provide for lower contact adhesion to reduce hysteretic switching behavior, so that the relays operate reliably with sub-50-mV gate voltage swing to provide for ultra-low active power consumption as well as zero static power consumption.