James Best
· Assistant Professor of EconomicsCarnegie Mellon University · Economics
Active 2017–2022
About
James Best is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. His role involves teaching and research within the field of economics, with a focus on integrating economic principles with business practices. Further details about his specific research interests, background, or key contributions are not provided on the page.
Research topics
- Electrical engineering
- Optoelectronics
- Materials science
- Composite material
Selected publications
Phase Change Nanoelectromechanical Relay for Nonvolatile Low Leakage Switching
Advanced Electronic Materials · 2022 · 12 citations
1st authorCorresponding- Materials science
- Optoelectronics
- Composite material
Abstract The design, modeling, and experimental validation of a highly scalable phase change electromechanical relay are present. The Phase Change NEMS Relay (PCNR) is a nonvolatile mechanical relay actuated by the volumetric expansion of phase change material. GeTe is used as the active phase change material, and nonvolatile relay states are changed by converting it between amorphous and crystalline phases, which differ in volume by 10%. Phase conversion is induced by Joule heating an adjacent metal layer. Finite element analysis (FEA) models are developed to predict actuator temperature distributions and quench times for varied actuation pulses. Additional models are developed to simulate actuator deflection including reflow of molten phase change material during an actuation pulse. The smallest fabricated device has a heater footprint of 3 µm × 1 µm, with a 20 nm air‐gap. The FEA model, which calculates the actuation voltage, energy, and ON–OFF current ratio for this device to be 1.1 V, 42 nJ, and 10 8 , respectively, are experimentally verified. A PCNR scaled down to a 15 nm × 5 nm heater footprint with a 2 nm air‐gap is predicted to actuate at 400 mV and 1.7 pJ.
Frequent coauthors
- 5 shared
Gianluca Piazza
University of Cambridge
- 2 shared
Maarten P. Boer
Carnegie Mellon University
- 2 shared
Mohammad Ayaz Masud
Carnegie Mellon University
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