A switchable controlling device for an electrical circuit including a semiconductor element and electrodes in low electrical resistance contact therewith, wherein said semiconductor element has a high electrical resistance to provide a blocking condition for substantially blocking current therethrough, wherein the high electrical resistance is substantially instantaneously decreased to a low electrical resistance in response to a voltage above a threshold voltage value, wherein the semiconductor...

A semiconductive junction device comprises a thin layer of a glassy amorphous material exhibiting one type of conductivity (either N or P) disposed upon a semiconductive substrate possessing the other kind of conductivity. The glassy layer is sufficiently thin that it exhibits a useful level of conductivity. Preferably, the glassy layer is ion impermeable so that the device remains stable under a wide range of operating conditions. These junctions behave as diodes and can be incorporated in a wi...

The present invention, in one embodiment, provides a memory device that includes a phase change memory cell; a first electrode; and a layer of filamentary resistor material positioned between the phase change memory cell and the first electrode, wherein at least one bistable conductive filamentary pathway is present in at least a portion of the layer of filamentary resistor material that provides electrical communication between the phase change memory cell and the first electrode.

A soft (non-fused) collar structure and controlled floating collar stay implementing production, and subsequent use of the collar; and method for forming the collar. An improved stay is formed of an elongate strip of flat resilient flexible sheet material having a central portion and end portions at opposed ends of said central portion, each of which end portions is narrower in width than the width of the central portion. Hook means are formed on the end portions of said stay extending from said...

A controllable semiconductor switch comprises an anode, a cathode and a switchable amorphous semiconductor element interposed between the anode and cathode. The switchable amorphous semiconductor element has a high electrical resistance for substantially blocking current between the anode and cathode, and it, upon the application of a voltage above a threshold voltage value to the anode and cathode of the semiconductor switch, is capable of having at least portions thereof between the anode and ...

A phase change memory device with improve thermal isolation. The device includes an electrode stack, including a first and second electrode elements, generally planar in form, separated by and in mutual contact with a dielectric spacer element, wherein the electrode stack includes a side surface; a phase change element having a bottom surface in contact with the electrode stack side surface, including electrical contact with the first and second electrode elements; and dielectric fill material s...

A memory cell device, including a memory material switchable between electrical property states by the application of energy, has bottom and top electrode members and a dielectric material between the two. The bottom and top electrode members have outer, circumferentially-extending surfaces aligned with one another. A memory element, comprising the memory material, at least partially surrounds and electrically contacts the outer surfaces of the top and bottom electrode members to create a memory...

A non-volatile memory cell utilizes a programmable conductor random access memory (PCRAM) structure instead of a polysilicon layer for a floating gate. Instead of storing or removing electrons from a floating gate, the programmable conductor is switched between its low and high resistive states to operate the flash memory cell. The resulting cell can be erased faster and has better endurance than a conventional flash memory cell.

A semiconductive junction device comprises a thin layer of a glassy amorphous material exhibiting one type of conductivity (either N or P) disposed upon a semiconductive substrate possessing the other kind of conductivity. The glassy layer is sufficiently thin that it exhibits a useful level of conductivity. Preferably, the glassy layer is ion impermeable so that the device remains stable under a wide range of operating conditions. These junctions behave as diodes and can be incorporated in a wi...

A semiconductive junction device comprises a thin layer og a glassy amorphous material exhibiting one type of conductivity (either N or P) disposed upon a semiconductive substrate possessing the other kind of conductivity. The glassy layer is sufficiently thin that it exhibits a useful level of conductivity. Preferably, the glassy layer is ion impermeable so that the device remains stable under a wide range of operating conditions. These junctions behave as diodes and can be incorporated in a wi...