Intellectual Property Law

US Patent 7749801 - Phase change memory fabricated with CNTs

Phase change memory is appearing to be the primary choice for a next-generation universal non-volatile memory. This patent from Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology teaches a way to reduce the contact area between the bottom electrode and phase change material using vertical carbon nanotubes thus increasing the integration density of phase change memory cells. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for fabricating a phase change memory using carbon nanotubes, the method comprising:

disposing a catalyst for forming a plurality of carbon nanotubes over predetermined regions of a current source electrode supplying external current to a target, thereby widening the predetermined regions responsible for the phase change and increasing the threshold margin of a phase change material;

growing the carbon nanotubes in vertical direction using the catalyst as a seed to form carbon nanotube electrodes;

depositing an insulation layer over the current source electrode in a manner to cover the carbon nanotube electrodes;

polishing the insulation layer until flush with the carbon nanotube electrodes to form a planarized insulation layer flush with the carbon nanotube electrodes; and

forming a phase change material layer over the planarized insulation layer, which is flush with the carbon nanotube electrodes, in contact with the carbon nanotube electrodes.

Full post as published by TinytechIP on July 08, 2010 (boomark / email).