Bistable storage in pulsed gate-controlled diodes

It is shown that all ordinary MOS gate-controlled diode can exhibit bistability if periodically pulsed via a resistor. The bistability is due to a regenerative interaction between the charge-pumping action and the source-voltage dependence of the gate capacitance. This extremely simple structure stores binary data in the form of charge across the source-substrate junction capacitance by compensating for the junction leakage current. No DC power is dissipated in any of the stable states. An analysis of the bistable operation is provided and its possible application to the bistabilization of dynamic RAM cells is discussed.