Phase change material memory having no erase cycle
OwnerDaniel R. Shepardinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An information storage array includes a programmable material at one or more storage locations and pulse generation circuitry for generating at least two pulses—in particular, a write pulse that writes a value into the programmable material an erase pulse that erases a value from the programmable material. In general, the erase pulse is greater in duration than the write pulse. Either the write pulse or the erase pulse is selected based at least in part on a state of a data bit to be stored in the programmable material.
Claims12
An information storage device comprising:
- a programmable material at a storage location;
- pulse-generation circuitry for generating (i) a write pulse that writes a value into the programmable material and (ii) an erase pulse that erases a value from the programmable material, the erase pulse being greater in duration than the write pulse;
- and
- a selector for selecting one of the write pulse and erase pulse based at least in part on a state of a data bit to be stored in the programmable material.
A method for changing the state of a programmable material at a storage location, the method comprising:
- generating a first pulse for writing a value into a programmable material;
- generating a second pulse for erasing a value from the programmable material, the second pulse being greater in duration than the first pulse;
- selecting one of the first pulse or the second pulse based at least in part on a state of a data bit to be stored in the programmable material;
- and
- changing a state of the programmable material with the selected pulse.
An information storage device comprising one or more storage arrays, wherein at least one storage array comprises:
- a programmable material at a storage location;
- pulse generation circuitry for generating (i) a write pulse that writes a value into the programmable material and (ii) an erase pulse that erases a value from the programmable material, the erase pulse being greater in duration than the write pulse;
- and
- a selector for selecting one of the write pulse and erase pulse based at least in part on a state of a data bit to be stored in the programmable material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.