Piezoelectric micro-scale mechanical computing system

Near-zero leakage current, nearly ideal on to off-state current ratios, sharp voltage to current relationship slopes and potential for intrinsic immunity to radiation have made MEMS-based mechanical logic an attractive area of research. This work builds upon an ongoing research effort, which aims to develop a lead zirconate titanate (PZT)-based, mechanical logic architecture, in order to demonstrate a fully capable digital MEMS system. The work presented here demonstrates an integration of combinational and sequential mechanical logic elements to provide a 1-bit counter without the aid of semiconductor technologies. The system demonstrates both proper functionality and data retention over multiple cycles.