Back to results
US 5,317,533 AGranted
Integrated mass storage device
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford University
InventorsCalvin F. Quate, Mark J. Zdeblick, Thomas R. Albrecht
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A integrated mass memory device is formed by combining a piezoelectric bimorph cantilever (214) with a recording surface (212) having a number of storage locations to and from which digital information is transferred using a scanning tunneling microscope or an atomic force microscope mode of operation. Controls circuits (240) are provided for controlling the scanning of the recording surface (212) and for writing and reading information into and from the recording surface. An image storage system stores images captured from an optical sensor using piezoelectric bimorph cantilevers for reading and writing digital information on recording surfaces.
Claims14
An integrated memory device, comprising:
- a substrate;
- a recording surface having a recording medium associated therewith for storing information at various locations on said recording surface, said recording surface fixed with respect to said substrate;
- a piezoelectric bimorph cantilever attached to said substrate at one end and having a free end with a tip fixed thereto, said bimorph cantilever including two layers of piezoelectric material sandwiched between multiple pairs of electrodes in such a manner that three axis movement of said bimorph cantilever is caused by applying suitable potentials to said multiple pairs of electrodes;
- and
- control means coupled to said multiple pairs of electrodes of the piezoelectric bimorph cantilever, for adjusting the potentials applied between those pairs of electrodes so as to scan said tip over the recording surface to access the various locations on said recording surface.
2 more elements
A memory device for writing in or reading out information, comprising:
- a piezoelectric bimorph cantilever having a tip, said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever including two layers of piezoelectric material sandwiched between multiple pairs of electrodes in such a manner that three axis movement of said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever is caused by applying suitable potentials to said multiple pairs of electrodes;
- a memory surface for storing information at a plurality of storage locations on said memory surface;
- wherein said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever and said memory surface form an integrated device with said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever mounted at a fixed position relative to said memory surface;
- control means coupled to said multiple pairs of electrodes of the piezoelectric bimorph cantilever, for adjusting the potentials applied between those pairs of electrodes so as to scan the tip of said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever over the memory surface to align said tip with each of said storage locations on said memory surface;
- means coupled to said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever's tip for writing information in each of said storage locations;
- and
- means coupled to said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever's tip for reading out information stored in each of said storage locations.
4 more elements
A memory device, comprising:
- a piezoelectric bimorph cantilever having a tip, said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever including two layers of piezoelectric material sandwiched between multiple pairs of electrodes in such a manner that three axis movement of said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever is caused by applying suitable potentials to said multiple pairs of electrodes;
- a memory surface for storing information at a plurality of storage locations on said memory surface;
- wherein said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever and said memory surface form an integrated device with said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever mounted at a fixed position relative to said memory surface;
- control means coupled to said multiple pairs of electrodes of the piezoelectric bimorph cantilever, for adjusting the potentials applied between those pairs of electrodes so as to scan the tip of said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever over the memory surface to align said tip with each of said storage locations on said memory surface;
- and
- means coupled to said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever's tip for reading out information stored in each of said storage locations.
3 more elements
A memory device, comprising:
- a piezoelectric bimorph cantilever having a tip, said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever including two layers of piezoelectric material sandwiched between multiple pairs of electrodes in such a manner that three axis movement of said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever is caused by applying suitable potentials to said multiple pairs of electrodes;
- a memory surface for storing information at a plurality of storage locations on said memory surface;
- wherein said memory surface and said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever are mounted on a common substrate;
- control means coupled to said multiple pairs of electrodes of the piezoelectric bimorph cantilever, for adjusting the potentials applied between those pairs of electrodes so as to scan the tip of said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever over the memory surface to align said tip with each of said storage locations on said memory surface;
- and
- means coupled to said piezoelectric bimorph cantilever's tip for reading out information stored in each of said storage locations.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.