Patents by Inventor Daniel R. Shepard

Daniel R. Shepard has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20100232200
    Abstract: A memory device includes a substrate, and, disposed thereover, an array of vertical memory switches. In some embodiments, each switch has at least three terminals and a cross-sectional area less than 6F2.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 10, 2010
    Publication date: September 16, 2010
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Publication number: 20100164543
    Abstract: In various embodiments, an adder circuit includes a plurality of transistors, all of the transistors being of a single type selected from the group consisting of NMOS transistors and PMOS transistors, and dissipates no more power than an equivalent CMOS circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2009
    Publication date: July 1, 2010
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Publication number: 20100165726
    Abstract: An information storage array includes a programmable material at a storage location and a capacitor set. A switching network charges the capacitor set to a first voltage and discharges the capacitor set at a second voltage. The second voltage is greater than the first voltage and it or a waveform derived therefrom is applied to the storage location to thereby change a state of the programmable material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 31, 2009
    Publication date: July 1, 2010
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Publication number: 20100165727
    Abstract: An information storage array includes a programmable material at one or more storage locations and pulse generation circuitry for generating at least two pulses—in particular, a write pulse that writes a value into the programmable material an erase pulse that erases a value from the programmable material. In general, the erase pulse is greater in duration than the write pulse. Either the write pulse or the erase pulse is selected based at least in part on a state of a data bit to be stored in the programmable material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 31, 2009
    Publication date: July 1, 2010
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Publication number: 20100163836
    Abstract: A memory device includes a memory array comprising a plurality of storage locations disposed above a plurality of generally parallel lines, where each storage location comprises a programmable material disposed on a sidewall of a conductive element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2009
    Publication date: July 1, 2010
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Publication number: 20100157646
    Abstract: A memory device having a plurality of storage locations disposed along a plurality of generally parallel lines includes, connected to the lines, a decoder circuit for selecting one line, and, connected to each line, a line-disabling circuit for selectively preventing the line from being energized during line selection.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2009
    Publication date: June 24, 2010
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Publication number: 20100149865
    Abstract: One of the simplest forms of data storage devices is the diode array storage device. However, a problem with diode array storage devices is that as the size of the array increases, the number of non-addressed diodes connected between a given selected row or column of the array and the non-addressed columns or rows of the array, respectively, also becomes very large. While the leakage current through any one non-addressed diode on the selected row or column will have little impact on the operation of the device, the cumulative leakage through multiple thousands of non-addressed diodes can become significant. This aggregate leakage current can become great enough that the output voltage can be shifted such that the threshold for distinguishing between a one state and a zero state of the addressed diode location can become obscured and can result in a misreading of the addressed diode location. The present invention is a means to manage the leakage currents in a diode array storage device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2009
    Publication date: June 17, 2010
    Applicant: Contour Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Publication number: 20100096610
    Abstract: A memory cell includes a current-steering device, a phase-change material disposed thereover, and a heating element and/or a cooling element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2009
    Publication date: April 22, 2010
    Inventors: Hsingya A. Wang, Daniel R. Shepard, Mac D. Apodaca, Ailian Zhao
  • Publication number: 20100085830
    Abstract: A memory-array decoder operably coupled to a memory array comprising a sequence of rows and receiving as input a plurality of address bits includes first and second decoder stages. The first decoder stage selects one or more first rows by decoding a first subset of the address bits, and the second decoder stage selects one or more second rows based on locations, within the sequence, of one or more third rows different from the one or more second rows.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 7, 2009
    Publication date: April 8, 2010
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Patent number: 7667996
    Abstract: The scale of the devices in a diode array storage device, and their cost, are reduced by changing the semiconductor based diodes in the storage array to cold cathode, field emitter based devices. The field emitters and a field emitter array may be fabricated utilizing a topography-based lithographic technique.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2010
    Assignee: Contour Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Patent number: 7652916
    Abstract: One of the simplest forms of data storage devices is the diode array storage device. However, a problem with diode array storage devices is that as the size of the array increases, the number of non-addressed diodes connected between a given selected row or column of the array and the non-addressed columns or rows of the array, respectively, also becomes very large. While the leakage current through any one non-addressed diode on the selected row or column will have little impact on the operation of the device, the cumulative leakage through multiple thousands of non-addressed diodes can become significant. This aggregate leakage current can become great enough that the output voltage can be shifted such that the threshold for distinguishing between a one state and a zero state of the addressed diode location can become obscured and can result in a misreading of the addressed diode location. The present invention is a means to manage the leakage currents in a diode array storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2010
    Assignee: Contour Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Publication number: 20090296445
    Abstract: In various embodiments, an electronic circuit includes an array of locations each corresponding to an intersection of a row and a column, and a plurality of devices each disposed proximate one of the locations, wherein no more than ten contiguous locations lack a proximate device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2009
    Publication date: December 3, 2009
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Publication number: 20090257269
    Abstract: An electronic circuit such as a latch or a sequencer includes a plurality of transistors, all of the transistors being either NMOS transistors or PMOS transistors, and dissipates less than or approximately the same amount of power as an equivalent CMOS circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2009
    Publication date: October 15, 2009
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Patent number: 7593246
    Abstract: A high density memory device is fabricated three dimensionally in layers. To keep points of failure low, address decoding circuits are included within each layer so that, in addition to power and data lines, only the address signal lines need be interconnected between the layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2009
    Assignee: Contour Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Publication number: 20090225579
    Abstract: A high-density memory device is fabricated three-dimensionally in layers. To keep points of failure low, address decoding circuits are included within each layer so that, in addition to power and data lines, only the address signal lines need be interconnected between the layers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2008
    Publication date: September 10, 2009
    Inventors: Daniel R. Shepard, Thomas A. Langdo, Arthur J. Pitera
  • Publication number: 20090225621
    Abstract: A memory device includes a memory array comprising a plurality of generally parallel rows and a plurality of generally parallel columns intersecting the plurality of rows; a first address decoder circuit disposed on a first side of the memory array; and a second address decoder circuit disposed on a second side of the memory array different from the first side. At least two consecutive rows are connected to the first address decoder circuit and at least two other consecutive rows are connected to the second address decoder circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2009
    Publication date: September 10, 2009
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Publication number: 20090219741
    Abstract: In one aspect, an electronic memory array includes overlapping, generally parallel sets of conductors, and includes storage elements near each point of overlap. One set of conductors has a non-negligible resistance. An address path for each storage element traverses a portion of one each of the first and second sets of conductors and a selectable resistance element. All storage element address paths have substantially equivalent voltage drops across the corresponding storage elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2009
    Publication date: September 3, 2009
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Publication number: 20090161420
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods for three-terminal field-emitter triode devices, and memory arrays utilizing the same. In other embodiments, the field-emitter devices include a volume-change material, capable of changing a measurable electrical property of the devices, and/or three-dimensional memory arrays of the same.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2008
    Publication date: June 25, 2009
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Publication number: 20090109726
    Abstract: A high-speed, low-power memory device comprises an array of non-linear conductors wherein the storage, address decoding, and output detection are all accomplished with diodes or other non-linear conductors. In various embodiments, the row and column resistors are switchable between a high resistance when connected to a row or column that is non-selected, and a low resistance when connected to the selected row and column.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2007
    Publication date: April 30, 2009
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard
  • Patent number: 7507663
    Abstract: Fabrication of microelectronic devices is accomplished using a substrate having a recessed pattern. In one approach, a master form is used to replicate a substrate having a pit pattern. In another approach, the substrate is produced by etching. A series of stacked layers having desired electrical characteristics is applied to the substrate and planarized in a manner that creates electrical devices and connections therebetween. The microelectronic devices can include a series of row and columns and are used to store data at their intersection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2009
    Assignee: Contour Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventor: Daniel R. Shepard