On-chip mechanical computing: status, challenges, and opportunities

With increasing challenges towards continued scaling and improvement in performance faced by electronic computing, mechanical computing has started to attract growing interests. Taking advantage of the mechanical degree of freedom in solid state devices, micro/nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) could provide alternative solutions for future computing and memory systems with ultralow power consumption, compatibility with harsh environments, and high reconfigurability. In this review, MEMS/NEMS-enabled memories and logic processors were surveyed, and the prospects and challenges for future on-chip mechanical computing were also analyzed.