Patent ID: 8629423

Claim:
A non-planar metal-insulator-metal tunneling device comprising: a sheet-substrate chosen from a group comprising semiconductors and dielectrics; the sheet-substrate having a smooth first planar surface and a smooth second planar surface; the sheet-substrate having an intermediate smooth surface extending between and connecting the first and second planar surfaces; the intermediate surface being selected from a group comprising holes, slits and side edges; the intermediate surface having a common area that is exposed by sources of particulate material generation located from both the first and second planar surfaces of the sheet-substrate; a first functional metal layer on the first and intermediate surfaces including the common area; a tunneling dielectric layer over the first functional metal layer within the common area of the intermediate surface; a second functional metal layer on the second and intermediate surfaces including the common area over the tunneling dielectric layer thus providing a metal-insulator-metal tunneling junction within the common area of the intermediate surface; and secondary metallization layers adjacent to both the first and second functional metal layers without direct contact with each other within the device.