William E. Flannery

Electron Transfer Processes through Tantalum—Tantalum‐Oxide Diodes

The electron transfer processes in thin‐film diode structures of Ta–Ta2O5–Au have been studied. The structures were prepared by electron beam evaporation of tantalum at 10−6 Torr followed by plasma oxidation of the tantalum film to the desired thickness. The counterelectrode metal was then evaporated without breaking the vacuum. Current—voltage—temperature characteristics of these structures were studied. Tunnel emission was observed when the tantalum electrode was biased positively and Schottky emission was observed for the tantalum electrode biased negatively. Trapezoidal energy barrier models have been used by many authors to explain electron injection and transfer through extremely thin insulating films. Such a model is proposed here for the tantalum—tantalum‐oxide system, and as is shown, it provides a self‐consistent framework for describing both Schottky and tunnel emission electron transfer processes in these structures. Using this model, it was found that the barrier height at the parent tantalum...

Low‐Current, High‐Speed Magnetic Memory Array Utilizing Evaporated Matrix Wiring

Planar, thin film magnetic memory arrays of 4×4 and 64×24 elements have been fabricated from evaporated matrix wiring and insulating layers. Four metallic and three insulating layers were evaporated sequentially in a vacuum chamber without breaking the vacuum. The magnetic element is an electroplated ternary alloy of nickel‐iron‐phosphorus 0.13 mm (0.005‐in.) in diameter and a few hundred A thick. The film has an anisotropy field of about 1 Oe and switches in 10 nsec with an applied word drive current of 35 mA. Sense and cancellation lines and dummy bit lines are used to cancel interwire coupling. Disturb tests were performed with up to 104 disturb pulses being applied along the easy axis. The outputs from films with Hc/Hk≈2 were decreased by less than 10% when disturbed in this manner. An evaporated memory array made with highly inverted films may be usable as a high‐speed, low‐current memory storage device.