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AssigneeHewlett-Packard Company
InventorsPhilip J. Kuekes, R. Stanley Williams, James R. Heath
Estimating the term…
A molecular-wire crossbar interconnect for signal routing and communications between a first level and a second level in a molecular-wire crossbar is provided. The molecular wire crossbar comprises a two-dimensional array of a plurality of nanometer-scale switches. Each switch is reconfigurable and self-assembling and comprises a pair of crossed wires which form a junction where one wire crosses another and at least one connector species connecting the pair of crossed wires in the junction. The connector species comprises a bi-stable molecule. Each level comprises at least one group of switches and each group of switches comprises at least one switch, with each group in the first level connected to all other groups in the second level in an all-to-all configuration to provide a scalable, defect-tolerant, fat-tree networking scheme. The primary advantage is ease of fabrication, because an active switch is formed any time two wires cross. This saves tremendously on circuit area (a factor of a few times ten), since no other wires or ancillary devices are needed to operate the switch or store the required configuration. This reduction of the area of a configuration bit and its switch to just the area of two crossing wires is a major advantage in constructing a defect-tolerant interconnect network.
A crossbar array of crossed-wire devices, each device comprising a junction formed by a pair of crossed wires where one wire crosses another and at least one connector species connecting said pair of crossed wires in said junction, said junction having a functional dimension in nanometers, wherein said at least one connector species and said pair of crossed wires form an electrochemical cell, with one set of wires formed above another set of wires.
A method of fabricating a crossbar array comprising a plurality of crossed-wire devices, each device comprising a junction formed by (1) a pair of crossed wires where a first wire is crossed by a second wire and (2) at least one connector species connecting said pair of crossed wires in said junction, said junction having a functional dimension in nanometers, wherein said at least one connector species and said pair of crossed wires form an electrochemical cell, said method comprising (a) forming a first set of wires comprising a plurality of said first wires, (b) depositing said at least one connector species over at least a portion of said first set of wires, (c) forming a second set of wires comprising a plurality of said second wires, and (d) assembling said second set of wires over said first set of wires so as to form a said junction at each place where a second said wire crosses a first said wire.
A method of operating a crossbar array comprising a plurality of crossed-wire devices, each device comprising a junction formed by a pair of crossed wires where one wire crosses another and at least one connector species connecting said pair of crossed wires in said junction, said junction having a functional dimension in nanometers, wherein said at least one connector species and said pair of crossed wires forms an electrochemical cell, said method comprising biasing sets of both wires at least once with a first voltage sufficient to cause an electrochemical reaction in said connector species and switch its state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.