Mechanical memory

Patent · Tue May 16 00:00:00 EDT 2006

OSTI ID:908435

Gilkey, Jeffrey C ^[1]; Duesterhaus, Michelle A ^[1]; Peter, Frank J ^[1]; Renn, Rosemarie A ^[1]; Baker, Michael S ^[1]

---

1. Albuquerque, NM

A first-in-first-out (FIFO) microelectromechanical memory apparatus (also termed a mechanical memory) is disclosed. The mechanical memory utilizes a plurality of memory cells, with each memory cell having a beam which can be bowed in either of two directions of curvature to indicate two different logic states for that memory cell. The memory cells can be arranged around a wheel which operates as a clocking actuator to serially shift data from one memory cell to the next. The mechanical memory can be formed using conventional surface micromachining, and can be formed as either a nonvolatile memory or as a volatile memory.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• Assignee: Sandia Corporation (Albuquerque, NM)
• Patent Number(s): 7,046,539
• Application Number: 10/979,419
• OSTI ID: 908435
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING