US Patent 7629639 - Nanocrystal floating gate transistor with nanotube channel

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7629639.html

One of the difficulties in scaling MOS transistors is the inadvertent creation of weak tunnel junctions in the gate oxide which generate current leakage. In order to avoid this problem this patent from Intel uses discrete metallic nanocrystals that reduces the impact of leakage in addition to a carbon nanotube channel which may facilitate reduction in electron scattering so as to increase the channel mobility. Claim 1 reads:

1. A transistor comprising:

a nanotube channel formed on an oxide;

a first dielectric formed on the nanotube channel; and

a plurality of metal nanocrystals formed on the first dielectric adjacent to the nanotube channel,

wherein the plurality of metal nanocrystals form an array of discrete floating gates.