Patent · US Expired

Memory element, method for structuring a surface, and storage device

US6819588B2 · kind B2 · utility

12Cited by
5References
21Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 19, 2002
Grant dateNov 16, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 19, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S977/947
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The invention is essentially characterized in that in a first step a substrate is provided, which is coated with defined pattern of protrusions of a coating layer of a different material, so that an interface is defined between the substrate and the coating layer. As an example, the patterned coating layer can be applied by first forming an essentially homogeneous coating layer, which is then partially removed by means of photolithographic and etching techniques, leaving nanometer sized protrusions in that layer. As a next step, the surface provided with these structures is modified by selectively removing protrusions by means of a micro-device. Such a micro-device can be formed in a similar way to a scanning probe microscope (SPM) tip. The presence or absence of a protrusion represents a readable data bit information.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.