Analog Nanoelectromechanical Relay With Tunable Transconductance

We show by simulation that a three-terminal nanoelectromechanical (NEM) relay combined with a feedback resistor provides a tunable transconductance Gm over an adjustable input-voltage range. The Gm arises from the modulation of the drain tunneling current by the gate voltage and does not require mechanical contact between the cantilever tip and the drain electrode. The introduced analog relay featuring current-voltage characteristics that are very similar to those of electronic transistors paves the path for purely electromechanical systems, where sensors and actuators can be integrated with NEM analog circuits and emerging NEM logic and memory devices.