NanoThermoMechanical AND and OR Logic Gates

Abstract

Today’s electronics cannot perform in harsh environments (e.g., elevated temperatures and ionizing radiation environments) found in many engineering applications. Based on the coupling between near-field thermal radiation and MEMS thermal actuation, we presented the design and modeling of NanoThermoMechanical AND, OR, and NOT logic gates as an alternative, and showed their ability to be combined into a full thermal adder to perform complex operations. In this work, we introduce the fabrication and characterization of the first ever documented Thermal AND and OR logic gates. The results show thermal logic operations can be achieved successfully through demonstrated and easy-to-manufacture NanoThermoMechanical logic gates.