Novel Field Programmable Technology based on Latching Micro-Electromagnetic Switches

We propose to develop a new type of field-programmable logic device consisting of a custom ASIC chip and monolithically post-processed MEMS switches integrated with on-chip permanent magnets. The enabling components of this integrated microsystem are thenew MEMS switches demonstrated in Phase I with drastically reduced feature sizes. The main components of the Phase II work consist of optimizing the performance of these miniaturized switches, developing monolithic permanent magnets to simplify packagingand to develop a process to integrate these switches with an underlying ASIC chip.