US Patent Issued to CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY on Aug. 12 for "Phase change nano electro-mechanical relay" (Pennsylvania Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,387,891, issued on Aug. 12, was assigned to CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY (Pittsburgh).

"Phase change nano electro-mechanical relay" was invented by James Best (Pittsburgh) and Gianluca Piazza (Pittsburgh).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A MEMS/NEMS actuator based on a phase change material is described in which the volumetric change observed when the phase change material changes from a crystalline phase to an amorphous phase is used to effectuate motion in the device. The phase change material may be changed from crystalline phase to amorphous phase by heating with a heater or by passing current directly through the phase change material, a...