Memristor Patent ReExams and Prior Art

In the past few years there has been increasing interest in the resistance switching properties of nanoscale thin films to develop a new form of non-volatile memory called ReRAM. This interest was peaked in 2008 based upon a paper published in Nature by researchers from HPLabs which connected experimentally observed resistance switching of TiO2 thin films to a memristor model postulated in the 1970's by Leon Chua and Steve Kang. Companies including HP, Sharp, Unity Semiconductor, and Adestos Technology are projecting product release of different variations of ReRAM/memristor in the 2-3 year timeframe.

There are actually several material examples of memristive materials dating back to the the 1960's such as discussed by the article "Switching Phenomena in Titanium Oxide Thin Films," by Argall. However, some of the companies which have been patenting around the concept of ReRAM and memristors have not adequately considered the prior art. Over the past year I have taken a look at several of the companies and patents related to memristors and ReRAM and have begun to compile information on patents which appear to have issued without considering prior art relevant to 35 USC 102 (novelty) or 35 USC 103 (obviousness). In some extreme cases I have filed Ex Parte ReExams for patents which clearly fail to meet patentability standards.

A copy of the Ex Parte ReExam filings as well as copies of filings of prior art under 37 CFR 1.501 is available at this link. A discussion of the business landscape of memristive electronics is available here.   

The Business Prospects of Memristive Electronics

Recently HP and Hynix announced a collaboration to produce a new type of nanoscale non-volatile memory by 2013 called ReRAM based on metal oxide thin films having memristive (i.e. memory resistive) characteristics. Sharp and Elpida have made a similar announcement for a competing type of ReRAM which is also expected to be available in 2013. In addition, start-ups companies such as 4DS, Adestos Technology, and Unity Semiconductor are also in development of variations of ReRAM as a way to simplify scaling beyond Flash memory. I published an article in the Nanotechnology Law & Business Journal this week which describes this technology and the various companies involved (link).

Free Mem-resistor Patent Database

Memory resistors represent a new type of nanoscale circuit element proposed to replace flash memory in the next decade and provide a platform to new types of neuromorphic computer architectures. I put together a database of patents related to the materials having memristive characteristics including the patents of Hewlett Packard, Micron Technology, Samsung, Axon Technology, Energy Conversion Devices, Advanced Micro Devices, and Unity Semiconductor which each have patents covering different variations or aspects of memristors.

The database is available by sending an E-mail to TinyTechIP@gmail.com with “mem-resistor patent database” in the title.

For more information on the business landscape of memory resistor electronics see this link.