Nonvolatile bistable memory and Ising machine based on Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems

Abstract

We propose an Ising machine made of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), where the annealing process is automatically executed by a dissipation mechanism. The core structure is a series of buckled plates. Two stable positions of each plate (left and right) represent its binary state acting as a bit so that a plate works as a mechanical memory. The electrostatic interaction between adjacent plates is introduced by applying voltage. Plates continue to flip between two stable buckled positions until the series of plates reaches a local minimum due to the damping of the mechanical motion. \red{First, we design Ising machines simulating a ferromagnetic (FM) interaction and an antiferromagnetic (AF) interaction separately. Then, we propose a fully-connected MEMS\ network representing a coexistence system of FM and AF interactions in an arbitrary way, by way of which an arbitrary combinatorial problem described by the Ising model can be solved.} The present mechanism works at room temperature without external magnetic field, which is very different from the standard classical or quantum annealing mechanism.