Granted Patent B2

US 8,000,121 · App. 12/315,292 · Granted Aug 16, 2011

Abstract

Claims (40)

1. A solid state drive for emulating a hard disk drive for a media device, comprising:

a media memory file including one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory, the media memory file operative to emulate a hard disk drive and operative to store media files in at least one media format in the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory, and the media files are retained in the absence of power; and

a logic circuit component formed on a substrate and including circuitry electrically coupled with the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory, the circuitry including at least one memory controller operative to retrieve and store the media files, and

wherein the media memory file is in contact with the substrate and is vertically positioned above the logic circuit component.

2. The solid state drive of claim 1 , wherein the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory comprises a plurality of memory layers that are vertically stacked upon each other along a vertical plane.

3. The solid state drive of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a silicon substrate and the circuitry is fabricated on the silicon substrate.

4. The solid state drive of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry further comprises a first controller electrically coupled with the at least one memory controller and with at least one external server connection, the first controller operative to electrically communicate media files from the media memory file to the at least one external server connection and to electrically communicate media files from the at least one external server connection to the media memory file.

5. The solid state drive of claim 4 , wherein the first controller comprises a USB controller.

6. The solid state drive of claim 4 , wherein the first controller comprises an IEEE 1394 controller.

7. The solid state drive of claim 1 , wherein the media files are written to the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory using a write operation without using an erase operation prior to the write operation.

8. The solid state drive of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory includes one or more memory partitions and each memory partition can be allocated to emulate a memory type other than hard disk drive.

9. The solid state drive of claim 1 , wherein the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory includes a plurality of two-terminal memory cells operative to change conductivity as a function of a voltage applied across a first terminal and a second terminal.

10. The solid state drive of claim 9 , wherein each memory cell includes a two-terminal memory element electrically in series with its first and second terminals and formed with an electrolytic tunnel barrier layer in contact with and electrically in series with a conductive metal oxide layer,

a programming voltage applied across the first and second terminals operative to transport mobile ions from the conductive metal oxide layer to the electrolytic tunnel barrier layer to store data as a programmed state, and

an erase voltage applied across the first and second terminals operative to transport the mobile ions from the electrolytic tunnel barrier layer to the conductive metal oxide layer to store data as an erased state.

11. A solid state drive media file storage device for emulating a hard disk drive, comprising:

one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory operative to emulate a hard disk drive and operative to store media files in at least one media format in the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory, the media files are retained in the absence of power; and

a logic circuit component formed on a substrate and including circuitry electrically coupled with the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory, the circuitry configured to perform data operations on the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory, the circuitry configured to electrically interface with and be controlled by at least one external memory controller operative to retrieve and store the media files for an external media device, and

wherein the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory are in contact with the substrate and are vertically positioned above the logic circuit component.

12. The solid state drive media file storage device of claim 11 , wherein the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory comprises a plurality of memory layers that are vertically stacked upon each other along a vertical plane.

13. The solid state drive media file storage device of claim 11 , wherein each non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory includes a plurality of two-terminal memory cells operative to change conductivity as a function of a voltage applied across a first terminal and a second terminal.

14. The solid state drive media file storage device of claim 13 , wherein each memory cell includes a two-terminal memory element electrically in series with its first and second terminals and formed with an electrolytic tunnel barrier layer in contact with and electrically in series with a conductive metal oxide layer,

a programming voltage applied across the first and second terminals operative to transport mobile ions from the conductive metal oxide layer to the electrolytic tunnel barrier layer to store data as a programmed state, and

an erase voltage applied across the first and second terminals operative to transport the mobile ions from the electrolytic tunnel barrier layer to the conductive metal oxide layer to store data as an erased state.

15. The solid state drive media file storage device of claim 11 , wherein the media files are written to the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory using a write operation without using an erase operation prior to the write operation.

16. The solid state drive media file storage device of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory includes one or more memory partitions, each memory partition can be allocated to emulate a memory type other than hard disk drive.

17. The solid state drive media file storage device of claim 11 , wherein the substrate comprises a silicon substrate and the circuitry is fabricated on the silicon substrate.

18. A solid state drive storage expansion device for emulating a hard disk drive, comprising:

one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory operative to emulate a hard disk drive and operative to store media files in at least one media format in the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory, the media files are retained in the absence of power;

a logic circuit component formed on a substrate and including circuitry electrically coupled with the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory, the circuitry configured to perform data operations on the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory; and

a removable connection configured to removably mechanically couple the solid state drive storage expansion device with an external media device and operative to electrically interface the circuitry with at least one external memory controller of the external media device, the at least one external memory controller operative to control the circuitry to retrieve and store the media files for the external media device, and

wherein the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory are in contact with the substrate and are vertically positioned above the logic circuit component.

19. The solid state drive storage expansion device of claim 18 , wherein the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory comprises a plurality of memory layers that are vertically stacked upon each other along a vertical plane.

20. The solid state drive storage expansion device of claim 18 , wherein each non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory includes a plurality of two-terminal memory cells operative to change conductivity as a function of a voltage applied across a first terminal and a second terminal.

21. The solid state drive media file storage device of claim 20 , wherein each memory cell includes a two-terminal memory element electrically in series with its first and second terminals and formed with an electrolytic tunnel barrier layer in contact with and electrically in series with a conductive metal oxide layer,

a programming voltage applied across the first and second terminals operative to transport mobile ions from the conductive metal oxide layer to the electrolytic tunnel barrier layer to store data as a programmed state, and

an erase voltage applied across the first and second terminals operative to transport the mobile ions from the electrolytic tunnel barrier layer to the conductive metal oxide layer to store data as an erased state.

22. The solid state drive storage expansion device of claim 18 , wherein the media files are written to the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory using a write operation without using an erase operation prior to the write operation.

23. The solid state drive storage expansion device of claim 18 , wherein the substrate comprises a silicon substrate and the circuitry is fabricated on the silicon substrate.

24. The solid state drive storage expansion device of claim 18 , wherein at least one of the one or more layers of vertically configured non-volatile re-writeable two-terminal cross-point array memory includes one or more memory partitions, each memory partition can be allocated to emulate a memory type other than hard disk drive.

Assignments (7)