CA2161340A1 - Bi-stable memory element - Google Patents

Bi-stable memory element

Info

Publication number
CA2161340A1
CA2161340A1 CA002161340A CA2161340A CA2161340A1 CA 2161340 A1 CA2161340 A1 CA 2161340A1 CA 002161340 A CA002161340 A CA 002161340A CA 2161340 A CA2161340 A CA 2161340A CA 2161340 A1 CA2161340 A1 CA 2161340A1
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
contact
bridging contact
memory element
bridging
element according
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
CA002161340A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Charles Gordon Smith
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Cavendish Kinetics Ltd
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Publication of CA2161340A1 publication Critical patent/CA2161340A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01HELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H1/00Contacts
    • H01H1/0036Switches making use of microelectromechanical systems [MEMS]
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11CSTATIC STORES
    • G11C11/00Digital stores characterised by the use of particular electric or magnetic storage elements; Storage elements therefor
    • G11C11/50Digital stores characterised by the use of particular electric or magnetic storage elements; Storage elements therefor using actuation of electric contacts to store the information
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11CSTATIC STORES
    • G11C23/00Digital stores characterised by movement of mechanical parts to effect storage, e.g. using balls; Storage elements therefor
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01HELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H59/00Electrostatic relays; Electro-adhesion relays
    • H01H59/0009Electrostatic relays; Electro-adhesion relays making use of micromechanics
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01HELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H1/00Contacts
    • H01H1/12Contacts characterised by the manner in which co-operating contacts engage
    • H01H1/14Contacts characterised by the manner in which co-operating contacts engage by abutting
    • H01H1/20Bridging contacts
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01HELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H1/00Contacts
    • H01H1/64Protective enclosures, baffle plates, or screens for contacts
    • H01H1/66Contacts sealed in an evacuated or gas-filled envelope, e.g. magnetic dry-reed contacts
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01HELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H1/00Contacts
    • H01H1/0036Switches making use of microelectromechanical systems [MEMS]
    • H01H2001/0042Bistable switches, i.e. having two stable positions requiring only actuating energy for switching between them, e.g. with snap membrane or by permanent magnet
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01HELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H59/00Electrostatic relays; Electro-adhesion relays
    • H01H59/0009Electrostatic relays; Electro-adhesion relays making use of micromechanics
    • H01H2059/0036Movable armature with higher resonant frequency for faster switching
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01HELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H59/00Electrostatic relays; Electro-adhesion relays
    • H01H59/0009Electrostatic relays; Electro-adhesion relays making use of micromechanics
    • H01H2059/0063Electrostatic relays; Electro-adhesion relays making use of micromechanics with stepped actuation, e.g. actuation voltages applied to different sets of electrodes at different times or different spring constants during actuation

Abstract

A bi-stable memory element (1) comprises a base contact (3), and a bridging contact (8), both made from an electrically conductive material. The bridging contact (8) is dimensioned so as to have two stable positions, in one of which the bridging contact (8) is in contact with the base contact (3), and in the other of which the bridging contact (8) is spaced apart from the base contact (3).
Deflection means (4,5) deflects the bridging contact (8) from one stable position to the other.

Description

WO 94/27308 21 61 3 q 0 PCT/GB94/00977 BI-STABLE MEMORY ELEMENT

This invention relates to memory elements for use in - digital logic circuits and, in particular, memory elements which can be produced by standard integrated circuit manufacturing techniques.
In recent years there have been large advances in the electronics industry related to the fabrication of semi-conductor devices for use in micro-processors and as computer memory elements. Semiconductor micro-processors are now found in a vast array of products, both at home and in the work place, but there are still many problems involved in using such devices in hazardous environments, where the device may be exposed to high energy particles such as cosmic rays, X-rays or electron beams which can destroy the semiconductor structure and/or alter current flow. Furthermore, semiconductor devices will only work within a narrow range of temperatures. High temperatures are a particular problem, above about 800K, where the dopants which are positioned in precise areas begin to diffuse at a rate that is exponentially dependent upon the temperature. More importantly, many of the insulating barriers used in such devices are thin enough that conduction through the barrier increases with increasing temperature. There are many areas, such as the design of devices for use in satellites, or in industrial processes, where high reliability is required in very harsh environments.
The sensitivity of semiconductors to the substrate on which they are formed creates a problem in that stacking of elements is complex and costly, reducing the ability to form small I.C. components. Another problem is that subsequent thermal annealing and oxidising work on higher layers damages the devices on lower layers, making reliable manufacture difficult.
Many semiconductor memory devices have a further problem in that they are unable to store data once their W094/27308 21 61 3 ~ O PCT/GB94/00977 _ _ po~er supply has been cut off, leading to unwanted data loss or the use of more expensive non-volatile memory chips.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the above problems and provides a bi-stable memory element comprising:
a base contact, made from an electrically conductive material;
a bridging contact, made from an electrically conductive material, and dimensioned so as to have two stable positions, in one of which the bridging contact is in contact with the base contact, and in the other of which the bridging contact is spaced apart from the base contact;
and deflection means, for deflecting the bridging contact from one stable position to the other.
Preferably, the contacts and deflection means are formed using the well know production techniques of photolithography, chemical deposition, sputtering, metal evaporation, or the like.
The deflection means may comprise a pair of electrodes, electrically insulated from the base contact and bridging contact, and operating in sequence to attract or deflect the bridging contact towards or away from the base contact by electrostatic forces. A device with faster switching can be provided by having deflection means both above and below the bridging contact.
Because the bridging contact is stable in both the contacted and uncontacted states, even if the power is disconnected from the device, its state is held and the data digit stored in it is not lost. Because the bridging and base contacts are not made from the usual semi-conductor material, the device is not as easily affected by interfering radiation or high temperatures. Furthermore, as the device can be formed on any smooth substrate surface, stacking of devices is easily performed and element density can be increased.

W094l27308 21 61 3 4 0 PCT/GB94/00977 Also, as this invention may be implemented using evaporation and sputtering of thin metal and insulating films, it can be much more simple to fabricate than devices - based on semiconductor technologies. As the number of devices on a chip may be hundreds of millions, this technique will have considerable advantages in the yield of working devices per chip.
Examples of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-Figure 1 shows a first example of a device according to the present invention with the bridging contact in contact with the base contact, in a partially deflected state, and in an uncontacted state;
Figure 2 shows a plan view of the conductive layers of the first example memory element;
Figure 3 shows a memory element similar to the Figure 1 example with deflecting means disposed on both sides of the bridging contact;
Figure 4 shows a second example of a device according to the present invention in both a contacted and un-contacted state;
Figure 5 shows a plan view of the conductive layers of the second example memory element; and, Figure 6 shows a memory element similar to the Figure 4 example with deflecting means disposed on both sides of the bridging contact.
Referring to Figure 1, an element 1 consists of a number of layers which are produced by deposition and/or etching techniques the type common in IC production. The layers are formed on a substrate 2 which can be made from any non-conductive material. A base contact 3 is positioned centrally on the substrate 2. Positioned on either side of the base contact are deflection electrodes 4,5 which are also positioned on the surface of the substrate 2, but which are enclosed within a non-conductive layer 6. On top of the non-conductive layer 6 is a further W094/27308 2161~ 4 0 PCT/GB94/00977 non-conductive layer 7 which forms two spacers 7. On top of the spacers 7, and extending from one spacer to the other, is a bridging contact 8 which is formed from a flexible and electrically conductive material. The bridging contact 8 is under compression, which is introduced at the manufacturing stage in one of a number of ways. One method of manufacturing the bridging contact 8 is by forming on a bulging resist layer which is then etched away. Alternative methods such as flexing the substrate 2 whilst applying the bridging contact layer 8, using a metal which naturally goes under compression under thermal evaporation on specific substrates, or by forming the bridging contact layer at a greatly different temperature to that of the device operating temperature and employing the difference in thermal expansion between substrate 2 and bridging element 8 to introduce compression into bridging element 8 are also possible.
As the bridging contact 8 is under compression, it has two stable states, in one of which it is flexed away from the base contact 3, and in the other of which it is flexed toward the base contact 3. The contact 8 can be moved from one state to the other by application of voltage to the two deflection electrodes 4,5. In this example, the bridging contact 8 has a positive voltage applied to it and so, when negative voltage is applied to both of the deflection electrodes, the bridging contact 8 is attracted towards and then brought into contact with the base contact 3 by electrostatic force. In order to move the bridging contact 8 to its uncontacted state, a positive voltage is first applied to one of the deflection electrodes 5, moving part of the bridging contact 8 in a direction away from the substrate 2. A positive voltage is then applied to the other deflection plate 4 and the rest of the bridging contact 8 moves away from the substrate 2 and into its other stable state. The bridging contact 8 can be brought back into contact with the base contact 3 by reversing the above procedure. Employing stepped repulsion and _ W094l27308 21613 4 0 PCTIGB94100977 S

attraction requires less energy than e~ployi~g a single attracting/repelling plate and thus the power consumption of the device when switching is reduced.
The device of Figure 3 comprises a further spacing layer 9 on top of the bridging contact 8, a second insulating layer lO, and a further two deflection electrodes 11,11'. Again, switching of the device is in a stepped fashion, with a positive voltage applied first to electrode 11 and simultaneously a negative voltage applied to electrode 4, and subsequently a positive voltage applied to electrode 11' and simultaneously a negative voltage to electrode 5. The device in Figure 3 has a greater switching speed than the device of Figure 1.
To increase the switching speed of bridging contact 8 in Figure 1, the central portion of the bridging contact 8 extending from a point adjacent the edge of electrode 4 which is closest to base contact 3 to a point which is adjacent the edge of electrode 5 which is closest to base contact 3 should be made as rigid as possible. This can be accomplished in several ways. In one embodiment the central portion of bridging contact 8 can be made corrugated, with the valleys of the corrugation 13 running along the direction of the span. The corrugation 13 would be put in the sacrificial layer which is subsequently removed from under contact 8. In another embodiment of the device, the central portion of contact 8 could be made more rigid with the addition of an extra layer 13.
When in use, the voltage of the base contact 3 can be monitored, with its level representing a binary 1 or 0 depending on whether it is equal to that of the bridging contact 8 or not.
Figure 4 shows a side view of a second example of the present invention. A metal bridging contact 8 is fabricated above metal layers which form a contact 3 and electrode 4. Layer 12 is of a different material which is evaporated at the last stage. Layer 12 is designed to be under tension compared to bridging contact forming layer 8.

216134~

Both these layers are fabricated on a sacrificial layer which is removed to leave bridging contact supported at one end. Layer 12 pulls bridging contact 8 into two stable positions, either up or down, when the sacrificial layer is removed by an etching process. The force required to move bridging contact 8 depends on the geometry of layer 8 and on the difference in tension between the two layers 8,12 when they are initially deposited onto the sacrificial layer. The bridging contact 8 can be switched between the two stable positions using voltages applied to electrode 4.
When bridging contact 8 is in the down position it makes contact with contact 3, thus changing the voltage state of layer 3. Electrode 4 can have an insulating coating 6 to prevent conduction to contact 8 in the down position. As with the first example, strengthening corrugations or material 13 may be applied to bridging contact 8.
Figure 6 shows the device of figure 4 modified to have a faster switching time. This is achieved with the fabrication of additional layers 9, 10 and 11. Layers 9 and 10 are additional insulating layers and layer 11 is another conducting layer which would have an applied voltage opposite polarity to that of electrode 4 applied to it to cause the switching of contact 8. As with the first example, when in use the base contact 3 can be monitored, with its level representing a binary 1 or 0 depending whether it is equal to the arm contact or not.
To increase the speed of switching the voltage difference between both the electrodes 4 and/or 5 and bridging contact 8 can be increased, or the separation between both the electrodes 4 and/or 5 and contact 8 be decreased. As this will result in an increase in the electric field, to prevent dielectric breakdown between electrode 4 and/or 5 and contact 8, the ambient atmosphere should be controlled. For this reason the device can be packaged in a container filled with a gas of high relative breakdown voltage, such as Perflouropropane C3F8. The breakdown voltage between the electrodes 4 and/or 5 and bridging contact 8 can be maximised by ensuring insulator 6 is made from a material with a high breakdown electric field. This applies equally to both examples.

Claims (10)

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:
1. A bi-stable memory element comprising:
a base contact, made from an electrically conductive material;
a bridging contact, made from an electrically conductive material, and dimensioned so as to have two stable positions, in one of which the bridging contact is in contact with the base contact, and in the other of which the bridging contact is spaced apart from the base contact;
and deflection means, for deflecting the bridging contact from one stable position to the other.
2. A bi-stable memory element according to claim 1, wherein the contacts and deflection means are formed by photolithography, chemical deposition, sputtering, or metal evaporation.
3. A bi-stable memory element according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the bridging contact is cantilevered with its fixed end attached to a base layer by a support, the bridging contact being biased into one of two stable positions by a biasing layer.
4. A bi-stable memory element according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the deflection means comprises a pair of electrodes, electrically insulated from the base contact and bridging contact, and operating in sequence to attract or deflect the bridging contact towards or away from the base contact by electrostatic forces.
5. A bi-stable memory element according to any of the preceding claims, further including deflection means both above and below the bridging contact.
6. A bi-stable memory element according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the element is in an atmosphere of high relative breakdown voltage gas.
7. A bi-stable memory element according to claim 6, wherein the gas is perfluoropropane.
8. A bi-stable memory element according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the bridging contact is strengthened across at least part of its unsupported length.
9. A bi-stable memory element according to claim 8, wherein the strengthening is provided by corrugations on the bridging contact surface.
10. A bi-stable memory element according to claim 8, wherein the strengthening is provided by an additional layer on the bridging contact surface.
CA002161340A 1993-05-06 1994-05-06 Bi-stable memory element Abandoned CA2161340A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB939309327A GB9309327D0 (en) 1993-05-06 1993-05-06 Bi-stable memory element
GB9309327.6 1993-05-06

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA2161340A1 true CA2161340A1 (en) 1994-11-24

Family

ID=10735025

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA002161340A Abandoned CA2161340A1 (en) 1993-05-06 1994-05-06 Bi-stable memory element

Country Status (9)

Country Link
US (1) US5677823A (en)
EP (1) EP0698279B1 (en)
JP (1) JP3627108B2 (en)
AT (1) ATE160645T1 (en)
CA (1) CA2161340A1 (en)
DE (1) DE69407040T2 (en)
ES (1) ES2111302T3 (en)
GB (1) GB9309327D0 (en)
WO (1) WO1994027308A1 (en)

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EP0698279B1 (en) 1997-11-26
ATE160645T1 (en) 1997-12-15
ES2111302T3 (en) 1998-03-01
US5677823A (en) 1997-10-14
DE69407040T2 (en) 1998-04-16
WO1994027308A1 (en) 1994-11-24
GB9309327D0 (en) 1993-06-23
DE69407040D1 (en) 1998-01-08
EP0698279A1 (en) 1996-02-28
JPH08510350A (en) 1996-10-29

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