Intellectual Property Law

US Patent 7679946 - Memristor arrays with tunnel junctions

Memristors (i.e. memory resistors) are nanoscale resistance switches offering a new form of non-volatile memory. One issue with memristor arrays is leakage current "sneak paths" which reduce the efficiency of operation. This patent from Funai Electric teaches using tunnel junctions to avoid these sneak paths. Claim 1 reads:

1. A memory element array comprising

a plurality of memory elements arranged in an array,

wherein the memory elements are switching elements each including a gap of nanometer order in which a switching phenomenon of resistance is caused by applying a predetermined voltage between electrodes, and

the memory element array is provided with tunnel elements respectively connected to the switching elements in series, each of the tunnel elements preventing generation of a sneak path current flowing to another switching element at a time of applying the predetermined voltage.

It is notable that a similar memristor memory array with tunnel junctions was earlier suggested in US Patent 7038935 using a tunnel diode or MIM tunnel junction.

Full post as published by TinytechIP on March 22, 2010 (boomark / email).