Intermolecular, Toshiba and SanDisk Assigned Patent

Intermolecular, Inc., San Jose, CA, Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, SanDisk 3d LLC, Milpitas, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,275,727) developed by Pramanik, Dipankar, Saratoga, CA, Lazovsky, David E, Los Gatos, CA, Minvielle, Tim, San Jose, CA, and Yamaguchi, Takeshi, Kanagawa, Japan, for a “multi-level memory array having resistive elements for multi-bit data storage.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A resistor array for multi-bit data storage without the need to increase the size of a memory chip or scale down the feature size of a memory cell contained within the memory chip is provided. The resistor array incorporates a number of discrete resistive elements to be selectively connected, in different series combinations, to at least one memory cell or memory device. In one configuration, by connecting each memory cell or device with at least one resistor array, a resistive switching layer found in the resistive switching memory element of the connected memory device is capable of being at multiple resistance states for storing multiple bits of digital information. During device programming operations, when a desired series combination of the resistive elements within the resistor array is selected, the resistive switching layer in the connected memory device can be in a desired resistance state.“

The patent application was filed on February 20, 2015 (14/627,7601).