US Patent 7564085 - Vertical nanowire mechanical memory

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7564085.html

This patent from Samsung teaches a new type of nanostructured memory device which uses a mechanically movable nanowire to store charge on a capacitive nanowire. Claim 1 reads:

1. A memory device comprising:

an insulating substrate;

a source electrode formed on the insulating substrate;

a drain electrode formed on the insulating substrate and spaced apart from the source electrode;

a nanowire capacitor formed on the source electrode, the nanowire capacitor including a first nanowire grown vertically from the source electrode, a dielectric layer formed on the outer surface of the first nanowire, and a floating electrode formed on the outer surface of the dielectric layer;

a second nanowire grown vertically from the drain electrode, the second nanowire bending towards the nanowire capacitor while a voltage is applied to the drain electrode; and

a gate electrode formed on the insulating substrate and spaced apart from the drain electrode, the drain electrode being arranged between the source electrode and the gate electrode.