Organic Microelectromechanical Relays for Ultralow-Power Flexible Transparent Large-Area Electronics

This paper presents the development of electrostatically actuated polymer-based microelectromechanical relays as a potential replacement for organic field-effect thin-film transistors in order to enable near-zero-power flexible transparent large-area electronics. A low-temperature five-mask surface-micromachining process is developed to fabricate two types of prototype relays: purely polymeric and partially polymeric (inorganic-organic hybrid) relays. Experimental results demonstrate the operation of the prototypes as a switch, showing immeasurably low OFF-state leakage current (similar to 10 fA), abrupt switching behavior and high ON/OFF-current ratio (>10(5) over an effective input voltage swing of <= 100 mV), small hysteresis voltages (<= 100 mV), and low contact adhesive forces (<10 nN/mu m(2)). The influence of temperature on switching characteristics, including hysteresis voltages, is investigated as well.