Publications Details

Normally closed thermally activated irreversible solid state erbium hydrides switches

Abere, Michael J.; Gallegos, Richard J.; Moorman, Matthew W.; Rodriguez, Mark A.; Kotula, Paul G.; Kellogg, Rick A.; Adams, David P.

A thermally driven, micrometer-scale switch technology has been created that utilizes the ErH3/Er2O3 materials system. The technology is comprised of novel thin film switches, interconnects, on-board micro-scale heaters for passive thermal environment sensing, and on-board micro-scale heaters for individualized switch actuation. Switches undergo a thermodynamically stable reduction/oxidation reaction leading to a multi-decade (>11 orders) change in resistance. The resistance contrast remains after cooling to room temperature, making them suitable as thermal fuses. An activation energy of 290 kJ/mol was calculated for the switch reaction, and a thermos-kinetic model was employed to determine switch times of 120 ms at 560 °C with the potential to scale to 1 ms at 680 °C.