ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 20 -- United States Patent no. 12,394,481, issued on Aug. 19, was assigned to Micron Technology Inc. (Boise, Idaho).

"Electronic devices including support pillars in slot regions, and related memory devices, systems, and methods" was invented by Darwin A. Clampitt (Wilder, Idaho), John D. Hopkins (Meridian, Idaho) and Roger W. Lindsay (Boise, Idaho).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An electronic device comprises a stack comprising tiers of alternating conductive levels and insulative levels overlying a source, slots extending vertically through the stack and dividing the stack into blocks, and support pillars within the slots and extending vertically through the stack. The ...