The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 11, 1979
Filed:
Jan. 25, 1978
Jayanth R Banavar, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Darryl D Coon, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Gustav E Derkits, Jr, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Other;
Abstract
A semiconductor memory device exhibiting non-volatile storage characteristics is disclosed. The device comprises a storage element, maintained in a prescribed range of temperatures, which exhibits an effect of charge storage and release of the stored charge upon application of a suitable bias voltage. Information is stored by exposure to light or by applying a suitable bias voltage to put the device into one of a multiplicity of long-lived states. In the case of exposure to light the state of the device is indicative of the integrated photon flux. Information can be stored or read out in times as short as 1 nanosecond or less and will remain stored for as long as 10.sup.5 seconds or longer without any sustaining voltage. A plurality of the memory devices can be interconnected in an array and can be used as a memory storage bank.