Patent ID: 8766224

Claim:
An electrically actuated switch having a configurable ON/OFF polarity comprising: a first electrode; a second electrode; an active region disposed therebetween, said active region comprising a first primary active region and a second primary active region, each comprising at least one material for transporting and hosting ions that act as dopants to control the flow of electrons through the switch, and a secondary active region disposed between said first primary active region and said second primary active region and comprising at least one material for providing a source/sink of ionic dopants for said primary active regions; the switch capable of being configured into a given state by initially causing said dopants to drift toward either of said first electrode or said second electrode to set an initial ON/OFF polarity of said switch; wherein said switch has three states: in an initial state, there is undoped semiconductor adjacent to both electrodes, resulting in first and second Schottky barriers that are in series and opposed to each other (or have opposite polarities), thereby effectively blocking current flow in both directions of the device, when said switch is switched to a second state for which dopants are injected into a region near the first electrode, the first Schottky barrier adjacent to the first electrode is decreased, which results in current flowing more readily in one direction compared to the opposite direction, and when said switch is switched to a third state for which dopants are injected to a region near the second electrode, the second Schottky barrier adjacent to the second electrode is decreased, which results in a reversal of a direction of easier current flow.