Reliable Nanowire Addressing via Randomized-Contact Decoders

In January of 2007, researchers from Caltech and UCLA demonstrated a nanoscale memory with 1011 storage devices per cm (9). This memory used a grid of nanoscale wires (NWs) to control bistable rotaxane molecules located at NW crosspoints. Similar crossbar-based storage technology, us- ing larger feature sizes, was demonstrated by researchers at HP in 2004 (11). In both cases the limiting factor on storage density was not wire pitch or device size, it was an inability to efficiently control individual NWs using lithographically pro- duced mesoscale wires (MWs). To solve this, several types of NW decoders have been proposed. We model one type, the randomized-contact decoder, and provide strong bounds on its area overhead and defect tolerance.