Micro- and Nano-electromechanical (MEM/NEM) relays can operate with zero-leakage at far higher temperatures and levels of radiation than transistors, but have poor reliability. This work demonstrates improvement in reliability of MEM relays using nano-crystalline graphite (NCG)-coated contact surfaces. The high stability of NCG in ambient air, along with its low surface energy, appears to make it an ideal contact material. NCG-coated relays achieved over 2.8 million fast, hot-switching cycles with a drain current of at least 5 μA and on-resistance under 17 kΩ, in ambient air. The relays also were tested in slow, hot-switching cycles designed to increase the electrical stress on the contact, and consistently achieved on-currents up to 50 μA or the imposed current limit without failure. The eventual cause of failure appeared to be mechanical stress on the NCG layer over repeated cycling causing degradation. Increasing the layer thickness is expected to further improve the contact reliability. The relays are scalable and can be used as micro- or nano-scale switches in electronic components designed for very high temperatures and levels of radiation.

中文翻译：

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用于提高 MEM 继电器触点可靠性的纳米晶石墨

微纳机电 (MEM/NEM) 继电器可以在远高于晶体管的温度和辐射水平下以零泄漏运行，但可靠性较差。这项工作证明了使用纳米晶石墨 (NCG) 涂层接触面提高了 MEM 继电器的可靠性。NCG 在环境空气中的高稳定性以及低表面能使其成为理想的接触材料。NCG 涂层继电器在环境空气中实现了超过 280 万次快速热开关循环，漏极电流至少为 5 μA，导通电阻低于 17 kΩ。这些继电器还在缓慢的热开关循环中进行了测试，旨在增加触点上的电应力，并始终实现高达 50 μA 的导通电流或施加的电流限制而不会出现故障。失败的最终原因似乎是 NCG 层上重复循环的机械应力导致退化。增加层厚有望进一步提高接触可靠性。这些继电器是可扩展的，可用作电子元件中的微米级或纳米级开关，设计用于非常高的温度和辐射水平。