A compact large density memory piezoactuated storage device and process
for its fabrication provides an integrated microelectromechanical (MEMS)
and/or nanoelectromechanical (NEMS) system and structure that features an
integrated large density array of nanotips made of wear-resistant
conductive ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) in which the tips are
actuated via a piezoelectric thin film integrated with the UNCD tips. The
tips of the special piezoactuated storage device effectively contact an
underlying metal layer (top electrode) deposited on a polarizable
ferroelectric layer that is grown on top of another metal layer (bottom
electrode) to form a ferroelectric capacitor. Information is imprinted in
the ferroelectric layer by the polarization induced by the application of
a voltage pulse between the top and bottom electrodes through the
conductive UNCD tips. This integrated microelectromechanical (MEMS)
and/or nanoelectromechanical (NEMS) system and structure can be
efficiently used to imprint data in the ferroelectric layer for memory
storage with high density in the gigabit (Gb) to terabit (Tb) range. An
alternative memory media to the ferroelectric layer can be a phase change
material that exhibits two orders of magnitude difference in electrical
resistance between amorphous and crystalline phases.