Exploitation of non-linearities in CMOS-NEMS electrostatic resonators for mechanical memories

•Implementation of two CMOS-NEMS flexural resonators monolithically fabricated using a commercial CMOS technology.•Characterization of the CMOS-NEMS resonators working in non-linear regime.•Use of the CMOS-NEMS resonators electrically transduced as a mechanical memory element, exploiting the non-linear behavior. This paper reports on the study and characterization of the non-linear regime of two CMOS-NEMS flexural resonators electrically transduced for mechanical memory applications. A cantilever and a clamped–clamped beam nanoelectromechanical resonators have been monolithically fabricated using a commercial CMOS technology. An increase of the excitation voltage has forced the NEMS to present a non-linear resonant behavior. It has been demonstrated how this bistable NEMS response allows the implementation of a dynamic logic memory device where the control of the switching between the two states is performed through an amplitude modulation of the driving signal. Voltages needed for memory operation in the mV range and with higher difference between “high” and “low” values than the state of the art, together with the NEMS top-down fabrication in CMOS constitutes a promising alternative for operative mechanical memory devices.