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:
Jun. 22, 2004
Filed:
Jul. 08, 2002
John A. Fifield, Underhill, VT (US);
Russell J. Houghton, Essex Junction, VT (US);
William R. Tonti, Essex Junction, VT (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A programmable element that has a first diode having an electrode and a first insulator disposed between the substrate and said electrode of said first device, said first insulator having a first value of a given characteristic, and an FET having an electrode and a second insulator disposed between the substrate and said electrode of said second device, said second insulator having a second value of said given characteristic that is different from said first value. The electrodes of the diode and the FET are coupled to one another, and a source of programming energy is coupled to the diode to cause it to permanently decrease in resistivity when programmed. The programmed state of the diode is indicated by a current in the FET, which is read by a sense latch. Thus a small resistance change in the diode translates to a large signal gain/change in the latch. This allows the diode to be programmed at lower voltages.