Improving the energy efficiency of electronics is one of the grand challenges of semiconductor device physics, as global energy consumption by electronics grows in tandem with society’s growing reliance on information technology. Computationally intensive applications such as artificial intelligence further incentivizes the improvement of energy efficiency of electronics. At the corpuscular level of the transistor, the challenge is to reduce the operating voltage of the electronic switch while maintaining a sufficient on/off current ratio for reliable circuit operation. Monolayer graphene is a light material with low elastic modulus for flexure and low adhesion energy, ideal for the development of electromechanical switches with low-voltage operation. Critically, monolayer graphene has an elastic modulus lower than that of any other membrane due to its atomic thinness, which in turn enables deflection with less force than any other membrane. In this article, we review recent progress in the development of low-voltage graphene electromechanical switches. We present a general overview of the motivation for low-voltage switches, thermodynamic limits, and the scaling of on/off current ratio with voltage. A summary of the theory of suspended graphene monolayer switches follows. Simple theoretical models for the scaling of pull-in voltage, actuation energy and adhesion energy with device dimensions are reviewed. Experimental work over the past decade towards the realization of suspended graphene switches in both two-terminal and three-terminal configurations is summarized. Our review concludes with an outlook on the continued development of low-voltage graphene switches.

随着社会对信息技术的日益依赖，电子产品的全球能源消耗不断增长，提高电子产品的能源效率是半导体器件物理面临的重大挑战之一。诸如人工智能之类的计算密集型应用进一步激励了电子设备能源效率的提高。在晶体管的微粒级，挑战在于降低电子开关的工作电压，同时保持足够的开/关电流比以实现可靠的电路操作。单层石墨烯是一种具有低弹性模量的轻质材料，具有挠曲性和低附着力，非常适合开发低电压操作的机电开关。至关重要的是 单层石墨烯由于其原子薄度而具有的弹性模量低于任何其他膜的弹性模量，从而比任何其他膜都能够以较小的力进行偏转。在本文中，我们回顾了低压石墨烯机电开关开发的最新进展。我们概述了低压开关的动机，热力学极限以及开/关电流比随电压的变化比例。悬浮石墨烯单层开关理论的摘要如下。回顾了简单的理论模型，用于根据装置尺寸来缩放吸合电压，激励能量和附着力。总结了过去十年中为实现两端子和三端子配置的悬浮石墨烯开关而进行的实验工作。