US Patent 7763978 - 3D nanowire crossbar array

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7763978.html

For the past 10 years researchers at HPLabs have been developing nanowire circuit fabrics based on crossbar arrays fabricated by nanoimprint lithography. This latest patent teaches a three-dimensional nanowire crossbar design which may allow for 3D ultradense non-volatile memory. Claim 1 reads:

1. A configurable three-dimensional crossbar array system comprising:

a plurality of crossbar arrays, each crossbar array includes a first layer of nanowires, a second layer of nanowires overlaying the first layer of nanowires, a third layer of nanowires overlaying the second layer of nanowires, and a crossbar junction located at an intersection of three overlaying nanowires;

a first demultiplexer configured to address at least a portion of the nanowires in the first layer of nanowires of each crossbar array;

a second demultiplexer configured to address at least a portion of the nanowires in the second layer of nanowires of each crossbar array; and

a third demultiplexer configured to supply a signal to at least a portion of the nanowires in the third layer of nanowires of each crossbar array.