| abstract |
The present invention relates to sub-microelectronic devices that can be used in nanotechnology and circuitry, and in some cases, nanoscale wires and nanostructures capable of encoding data. One aspect of the invention provides nanoscale wires or other nanostructures having electrically polarizable regions. In some cases, the electrically polarizable region can maintain a polarization state even when no electric field exists outside. All or only a portion of the electrically polarizable region can be polarized, for example, to encode one or more bits of data. In one set of embodiments, the electrically polarizable region comprises a functional oxide or an oxide material with a ferroelectric constant. |