Apparatus, Storage Device, Switch and Methods, Which Include Microstructures Extending from a Support
AssigneeInfineon Technologies Dresden GmbH
InventorsMarko Lemke, Stefan Tegen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus has a support and a plurality of bendable and conductive microstructures extending from the support. Two adjacent microstructures of the plurality of microstructures define a detectable first state if they are not bent such that end portions thereof, which are distal with respect to the support, do not touch each other, and the two adjacent microstructures of the plurality of microstructures define a detectable second state if they are bent such that the end portions thereof, which are distal with respect to the support, touch each other and are fixed to each other.
Claims24
An apparatus comprising:
- a support;
- and
- a plurality of bendable and conductive microstructures extending from the support;
- wherein two adjacent microstructures of the plurality of microstructures define a detectable first state if they are not bent such that end portions thereof, which are distal with respect to the support, do not touch each other;
- and
- wherein the two adjacent microstructures of the plurality of microstructures define a detectable second state if they are bent such that the end portions thereof touch each other and are fixed to each other.
A permanent storage device comprising:
- a support;
- and
- a plurality of bendable and conductive microstructures extending from the support, wherein adjacent microstructures of the plurality of microstructures are bendable such that end portions thereof, which are distal with respect to the support, touch each other, wherein respective groups of x+1 microstructures of the plurality of microstructures form x-bit cells of the permanent storage, which are capable of storing x bits, wherein x is a natural number and wherein an x-bit value stored in a corresponding bit cell depends on which of adjacent microstructures of the respective group touch each other and which of the adjacent microstructures of the respective group do not touch each other;
- and
- read contacts configured to allow a detection of which of the adjacent microstructures of the respective group touch each other and to derive the x-bit value based thereon.
A switch comprising:
- a support;
- and
- two bendable and conductive microstructures extending from the support;
- wherein the two microstructures define a first switching state if they are not bent such that end portions thereof, which are distal with respect the support, do not touch each other;
- and
- wherein the two microstructures define a second switching state if they are bent such that the end portions thereof touch each other and are fixed together by van der Waals' forces.
A method of adjusting an apparatus comprising a support and a plurality of bendable and conductive microstructures extending from the support to define a first state or a second state, the method comprising:
- not bending two adjacent microstructures of the plurality of microstructures such that end portions thereof, which are distal with respect the support, do not touch each other to define the first state;
- and
- bending two other adjacent microstructures of the plurality of microstructures such that the end portions thereof touch each other and are fixed to each other to define the second state.
A method for manufacturing an apparatus comprising an array of microstructures extending from a support, the method comprising:
- forming a plurality of first holes in a substrate, wherein the first holes are arranged in rows and columns of a regular array, wherein ridges remain between adjacent rows and columns of the regular array;
- and
- forming a plurality of second holes in crossing points of the ridges, such that the second holes are arranged in rows and columns of a regular array,
- wherein the first and second holes abut to each other or overlap such that the microstructures are formed between adjacent ones of the first holes and adjacent ones of the second holes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.