Patent ID: 7602105

Claim:
A piezoactuated storage device, comprising: a piezoelectrically actuated ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) tip array integrated with a memory media for high-density memory, comprising a memory media comprising a heterostructure with a memory layer; a substrate providing a frame positioned below said layer; an array of ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) tips suspended from the substrate by flexible UNCD beams, each of said UNCD tips having a top part providing a substantially planar or flat portion; electrically conductive strips on top of the UNCD layer, comprising a first set of substantially parallel strips of electrically conductive material disposed over the top part of the UNCD tips for providing bottom electrodes of the piezoelectric heterostructure for actuation; said actuation layer comprising a piezoelectric thin film providing an actuator via lattice deformation and disposed over the parallel electrically conductive strips providing the bottom electrodes disposed over the UNCD layer to produce the tips; upper electrically conductive layer disposed over the piezoelectric layer, comprising a second set of substantially parallel strip providing top electrodes for the piezoelectric heterostructure for actuation, such that these second set of parallel strips are arranged at about a 90° orientation relative to the bottom strip electrodes; said lower and upper electrically conductive strips crossing at an area or point where the top part of a single tip in the array is located; and said UNCD tips cooperating with said top and bottom electrodes for actuation and said memory layer to provide a media where information is imprinted by polarization or phase change induced by a voltage or current pulse between the said UNCD tips and the bottom electrode layer disposed underneath the said memory layer.