Micro and nanoelectromechanical systems M/NEMS have been extensively investigated and exploited in the past few decades for various applications and for probing fundamental physical phenomena. Understanding the linear and nonlinear dynamical behaviors of the movable structures in these systems is crucial for their successful implementation in various novel technologies and to meet the long list of new sophisticated requirements. This paper presents a review for some of the recent topics pertaining to the dynamical behaviors, linear and nonlinear, of M/NEMS resonating structures. First, an overview is presented of the various used dynamical approaches to enhance the sensitivity of resonators for sensing applications. Then a summary is presented of the recent works on the linear and nonlinear mode coupling in M/NEMS resonator. Next, recent research is reviewed on coupled M/NEMS resonators, mechanically and electrically, leading to collective behaviors like mode localization. The final part of the paper discusses analytical approaches that have been developed to better understand and investigate the dynamical behavior of M/NEMS resonators focusing on the perturbation method the multiple time scales.

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Linear and nonlinear dynamics of micro and nano-resonators: Review of recent advances

Phonons, the quanta of mechanical vibration, are important to the transport of heat and sound in solid materials. Recent advances in the fundamental control of phonons (phononics) have brought into prominence the potential role of phonons in information processing. In this review, the many directions of realizing phononic computing and information processing are examined. Given the relative similarity of vibrational transport at different length scales, the related fields of acoustic, phononic, and thermal information processing are all included, as are quantum and classical computer implementations. Connections are made between the fundamental questions in phonon transport and phononic control and the device level approach to diodes, transistors, memory, and logic.

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Splash, pop, sizzle: Information processing with phononic computing

This paper reports on the study and characterization of the non-linear regime of two CMOS-NEMS flexural resonators electrically transduced for mechanical memory applications. A cantilever and a clamped–clamped beam nanoelectromechanical resonators have been monolithically fabricated using a commercial CMOS technology. An increase of the excitation voltage has forced the NEMS to present a non-linear resonant behavior. It has been demonstrated how this bistable NEMS response allows the implementation of a dynamic logic memory device where the control of the switching between the two states is performed through an amplitude modulation of the driving signal. Voltages needed for memory operation in the mV range and with higher difference between “high” and “low” values than the state of the art, together with the NEMS top-down fabrication in CMOS constitutes a promising alternative for operative mechanical memory devices.

Exploitation of non-linearities in CMOS-NEMS electrostatic resonators for mechanical memories

We report multifunctional operation based on the nonlinear dynamics in a single microelectromechanical system (MEMS) resonator. This Letter focuses on a logic-memory device that uses a closed loop control and a nonlinear MEMS resonator in which multiple states coexist. To obtain both logic and memory operations in a MEMS resonator, we examine the nonlinear dynamics with and without control input. Based on both experiments and numerical simulations, we develop a novel device that combines an OR gate and memory functions in a single MEMS resonator.

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Logic-Memory Device of a Mechanical Resonator

We report multifunctional operation based on the nonlinear dynamics in a single microelectromechanical system (MEMS) resonator. This letter focuses on a logic-memory device that uses a closed loop control and a nonlinear MEMS resonator in which multiple states coexist. To obtain both logic and memory operations in a MEMS resonator, we examine the nonlinear dynamics with and without control input. Based on both experiments and numerical simulations, we develop a device that combines an OR gate and memory functions in a single MEMS resonator.

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The Pontryagin minimal energy control approach has been applied to minimise the switching energy in a nanoelectromechanical memory system and to characterise global stability of the oscillatory states of the bistable memory element. A comparison of two previously experimentally determined pulse-type control signals with Pontryagin control function has been performed, and the superiority of the Pontryagin approach with regard to power consumption has been demonstrated. An analysis of global stability shows how values of minimal energy can be utilized in order to specify equally stable states.

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N. A. Khovanova

Papers

Minimal energy control of a nanoelectromechanical memory element