Phase change material microelectromechanical systems based analog memory and computational device

A computational device, comprising:

• a plurality of phase-change material (PCM) variable microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) capacitors, the PCM variable MEMS capacitors electrically connected in a cross-bar array configuration, each PCM variable MEMS capacitors comprising:
• (i) a substrate;
• (ii) a first electrode coupled to the substrate and having a first electrode inner surface and a first electrode outer surface, the first electrode inner surface spaced apart from the substrate to define a PCM cavity between the first electrode inner surface and the substrate;
• (iii) a second electrode coupled to the substrate and having a second electrode inner surface and a second electrode outer surface, the second electrode inner surface spaced apart from the first electrode outer surface to define a capacitance gap between the inner and outer electrodes;
• (iv) a PCM disposed within the PCM cavity;
• and
• (v) a heater element disposed within the PCM cavity and coupled to receive a voltage pulse, whereby a temperature of the PCM varies to thereby vary the capacitance gap;
• a power source coupled to each PCM variable MEMS capacitor and operable to (i) supply the voltage pulse to each heater and (ii) a time-dependent voltage between each of the first electrodes and each of the second electrodes, whereby a single multiply operation is implemented by each PCM variable MEMS capacitor;
• and
• a circuit coupled to each PCM variable MEMS capacitor and configured to sum together each of the single multiply operations implemented by each PCM variable MEMS capacitor.

An analog memory device, comprising:

• a phase-change material (PCM) variable microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) capacitor, the PCM variable MEMS capacitor comprising:
• (i) a substrate;
• (ii) a first electrode coupled to the substrate and having a first electrode inner surface and a first electrode outer surface, the first electrode inner surface spaced apart from the substrate to define a PCM cavity between the first electrode inner surface and the substrate;
• (iii) a second electrode coupled to the substrate and having a second electrode inner surface and a second electrode outer surface, the second electrode inner surface spaced apart from the first electrode outer surface to define a capacitance gap between the inner and outer electrodes;
• (iv) a PCM disposed within the PCM cavity;
• and
• (v) a heater element disposed within the PCM cavity and coupled to receive a voltage pulse, whereby a temperature of the PCM varies to thereby vary the capacitance gap;
• and
• a voltage source coupled to the heater element and configured to supply the voltage pulse, the voltage pulse having a magnitude and duration that ensures the second electrode inner surface remains spaced apart from the first electrode outer surface.