Reducing adhesion energy of micro-relay electrodes by ion beam synthesized oxide nanolayers

초록

Reduction in the adhesion energy of contacting metal electrode surfaces in nanoelectro-mechanical switches is crucial for operation with low hysteresis voltage. We demonstrate that by forming thin layers of metal-oxides on metals such as Ru and W, the adhesion energy can be reduced by up to a factor of ten. We employ a low-energy ion-beam synthesis technique and subsequent thermal annealing to form very thin layers (∼2 nm) of metal-oxides (such as RuO2 and WOx) on Ru and W metal surfaces and quantify the adhesion energy using an atomic force microscope with microspherical tips.

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