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US 6,487,112 B1Granted
Single-electron memory
OwnerChristoph Wasshuberinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A memory device in which each cell includes two portions of isolated-granular material: one portion forms the channel of a single-electron transistor, and the other provides a hysteretic I-V relationship in the gate circuit of the transistor.
Claims20
A memory device structure consisting of:
- a transistor;
- and
- a gate connection to said transistor in which a first isolated-granular structure, consisting of tunnel junctions and of grains made from conducting material, is interposed as a series conduction element;
- said transistor having a second isolated-granular structure, consisting of tunnel junctions and of grains made from conducting material, as a channel thereof;
- whereby the hysteretic state of said first isolated-granular structure stores data which is detectable through said transistor's performance.
2 more elements
A memory structure, comprising
- a transistor;
- a gate connection to said transistor in which a first isolated-granular structure, consisting of tunnel junctions and of grains made from conducting material, is interposed as a series conduction element;
- said transistor having a second isolated-granular structure, consisting of tunnel junctions and of grains made from conducting material, as a channel thereof;
- circuitry which controllably drives said first isolated-granular structure to store data therein;
- and
- circuitry which controllably detects the conduction characteristics of said transistor, to thereby detect the hysteretic state of said first isolated-granular structure.
3 more elements
A method for nonvolatile data storage, comprising the actions of:
- selectably storing data, by driving a first isolated-granular structure, consisting of tunnel junctions and of grains made from conducting material, to induce hysteretic behavior;
- and
- selectably reading data, by monitoring the characteristics of a transistor whose channel is formed in a second isolated-granular structure consisting of tunnel junctions and of grains made from conducting material, and which is gated by a potential which is at least partly dependent on the state of said first structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.