This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a two part nonvolatile RAM. This memory device will be fabricated as two separate components which will then be electrically connected together. A "circuit component", consisting of MOS technology similar to DRAM without storage capacitors, would incorporate address selection and data input/output. A second "storage medium" component would house ferroelectric capacitors, which would actually store information. By producing these two parts separately, adverse mutual effects which occur during the fabrication process can be avoided, and the characteristics of both parts can be optimized. A novel approach to micro-mechanical joining will be used to connect each capacitor in the storage medium component to a corresponding MOS drain electrode in the circuitry component. The storage medium component is simply an unpatterned ferroelectric film deposited on a common, metallic ground plane. The ferroelectric storage capacitors are defined by the other electrode on the circuitry component. Because of this simple structure, no alignment is necessary, making for simpler connection of the two parts. This nonvolatile RAM has immediate advantages over other nonvolatile memories because it possesses true random access (bit-by-bit reading and writing), simple construction leading to low cost, and a rugged design (no moving parts). Moreover, it can be packaged as a "smart card" holding as much data as a CD. Due to the nonvolatility of this new technology, computers would experience no data loss on power loss, would have no boot-up time, and would not need a hard disk. This technology may be also able to compete against DRAMs.
