1. A storage device comprising:
an electron emitter;
a storage medium comprising an information layer having at least a first state and a second state for storing information; and
a resistance measurement system coupled to the storage medium for reading the information stored at the information layer by measuring resistance to determine a state of a storage area on the information layer.
2. The storage device of claim 1, further comprising a micromover to change a relative position between the electron emitter and the storage medium.
3. The storage device of claim 1, wherein a read signal path is defined between the electron emitter and a storage medium reference, and the resistance measurement system detects a first resistance by measuring the resistance through the storage medium including the storage area along the read signal path.
4. The storage device of claim 3, wherein the resistance measurement system includes a voltage divider that utilizes the first resistance and a second, known resistance.
5. The storage device of claim 3, wherein the first resistance has a value representative of whether the read signal path passes through a portion of the information layer that is in the first state or the second state.
6. The storage device of claim 3, wherein the resistance measurement system receives a current output signal representative of whether the read signal path passes through a portion of the information layer in the first state or the second state.
7. The storage device of claim 6, wherein the resistance measurement system further comprises a transimpedance amplifier for converting the current output signal to a voltage signal representative of the first state or the second state.
8. A storage device comprising:
an electron emitter capable of generating an electron beam current;
a storage medium, comprising an information layer and a semiconductor layer, the information layer having a first state and a second state for storing information; and
a resistance measurement system coupled to the storage medium, wherein when the storage medium is exposed to the electron beam current along a signal path, the resistance measurement system detects a resistance value representative of whether the information layer is in the first state or the second state along the signal path.
9. The storage device of claim 8, wherein the information layer is made of a phase change material.
10. The storage device of claim 9, wherein the phase change material is a Ge\u2014Sb\u2014Te ternary alloy.
11. The storage device of claim 8, wherein the first state is a crystalline state and the second state is an amorphous state.
12. The storage device of claim 8, wherein the semiconductor layer comprises silicon.
13. The storage device of claim 8, wherein the semiconductor layer comprises metal.
14. A storage system comprising:
a nonvolatile storage device comprising an electron emitter that generates an electron beam current, a storage medium in close proximity to the electron emitter, wherein the storage medium comprises an information layer made of a phase change material and a semiconductor layer, and a resistance measurement system coupled to the storage medium, wherein as the storage medium is exposed to the electron beam current along a signal path, the resistance measurement system detects a resistance value representative of whether the information layer is in a first state or a second state; and
a control system in communication with the resistance measurement system for reading data at the information layer.
15. The storage system of claim 14, the storage system having a read mode, where in the read mode the control system controls the magnitude of the power density of the electron beam current generated from the electron emitter that provides a resistance detection signal representative of the information stored on the storage medium.
16. The storage system of claim 15, the storage system having a write mode, where in the write mode the control system operates to control the magnitude of the power density of the electron beam current generated from the electron emitter to change a storage location on the storage medium between the first state and the second state to store information at the storage location.
17. The storage system of claim 16, wherein the read mode the magnitude of the power density of the electron beam current is less than the magnitude of the power density of the electron beam current in the write mode.
18. The storage system of claim 14, wherein at least a portion of the control system is located on the same semiconductor chip as the nonvolatile storage device.
19. A storage system comprising:
a control system; and
an array of storage devices in communication with the storage system, each storage device including an array of electron emitters fabricated by semiconductor microfabrication techniques capable of generating electron beams, a storage medium having medium partitions, and a plurality of micromovers wherein each micromover is operable to move one or more media partitions relative to one or more electron emitters for reading and writing data at the media, and a resistance measurement system positioned at each media partition for reading resistance values to determine data stored at the media partition.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein at least a portion of the control system and the array of storage devices are located on the same semiconductor chip.
21. The system of claim 19, wherein the control system receives an output signal from each resistance measurement system representative of data stored at each media partition.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An outboard motor having a cowling comprising a bottom cowl and a top cowl configured to couple to the bottom cowl, the top cowl comprising a top cowl body that surrounds at least a portion of an engine of the outboard motor, the top cowl configured to couple with the bottom cowl, and the top cowl comprising an elongate thickened portion that extends longitudinally along the top cowl body in a fore to aft direction between a front end and a rear end of the top cowl body.
2. The outboard motor of claim 1, wherein the elongate thickened portion is an elongate band that extends inwardly from an inside surface of the top cowl, and the inside surface of the top cowl defines at least a portion of a chamber accommodating the engine.
3. The outboard motor of claim 1, wherein the elongate thickened portion is positioned generally midway between lateral side walls of the top cowl body.
4. The outboard motor of claim 3, wherein the elongate thickened portion extends inwardly from an inner surface of the top cowl towards the engine.
5. The outboard motor of claim 1, wherein the elongate thickened portion is a generally continuous elongate thickened portion that extends centrally along the top cowl.
6. The outboard motor of claim 5, wherein the top cowl further comprises an edge that surrounds the engine and mates with the bottom cowl, and a front end of the elongate thickened portion is adjacent the edge in a front portion of the top cowl and a rear end of the elongate thickened portion is adjacent the edge in a rear portion of the top cowl.
7. The outboard motor of claim 1, wherein the top cowl further comprises an opening edge configured to mate with the bottom cowl, and the elongate thickened portion extends along the top cowl from a forward end of the opening edge to a rearward end of the opening edge.
8. The outboard motor of claim 2, wherein the top cowl comprises a nonferrous metal.
9. The outboard motor of claim 1, wherein the elongate thickened portion has an average width that is greater than a distance that the elongate thickened portion extends inwardly from the top cowl.
10. The outboard motor of claim 1, wherein the top cowl further comprises a plurality of elongate thickened portions.
11. The outboard motor of claim 1, wherein the elongate thickened portion has a substantially rectangular axial cross-section.
12. A mold for forming a top cowl of nonferrous metal for an outboard motor, the mold comprising first and second mold portions that define a mold cavity shaped to form a top cowl having a top portion and side wall portions that depend from the top portion and define a bottom edge of the top cowl, an entrance sprue disposed at a front end of the mold cavity, an exit sprue disposed at a rear end of the mold cavity, a top cavity of the mold cavity configured to accommodate flow of molten metal from the entrance sprue to the exit sprue so as to form the top portion of the top cowl, side cavities of the mold cavity, the side cavities configured to accommodate flow of molten metal from the entrance sprue to the exit sprue so as to form the side wall portions of the top cowl, and a bottom edge of the mold cavity corresponding to the bottom edge of the top cowl, wherein the entrance and exit sprues are positioned at or adjacent the bottom edge of the mold cavity, and the top cavity and side cavities are configured so that molten metal flows faster through the top cavity than through the side cavities.
13. The mold of claim 12, wherein the entrance sprue and exit sprue are positioned in the aft to fore direction of the top cowl.
14. The mold of claim 12, wherein the side cavities and top cavity are shaped such that the nonferrous metal that exits the entrance sprue and is divided into a top flow that flows through the top cavity and side flows that flow through the side cavities, and the top flow and side flows reach the exit sprue at generally the same time.
15. The mold of claim 12, wherein a length of a flowpath from the entrance sprue through the top cavity is greater than a flowpath from the entrance sprue through one of the side cavities.
16. The mold of claim 12, wherein the top cavity is configured to form a reinforcement thickened portion that extends longitudinally along the top cavity.
17. The mold of claim 12, wherein molten metal that flows through the top cavity travels towards the exit sprue at substantially the same velocity in the fore to aft direction as the molten metal that flows through the side cavities.
18. The mold of claim 12, wherein the top cavity has a thickened portion for less flow resistance than the flow resistance of the side cavities.
19. The mold of claim 12, wherein the mold is configured such that material injected into the mold cavity flows upwardly from the entrance sprue to the exit sprue.
20. The outboard motor of claim 1, wherein the top cowl body is unitarily formed.
21. An outboard motor of claim 20, wherein the elongate thickened portion extends continuously from the front end to the rear end of the top cowl body.
22. An outboard motor having a cowling comprising a bottom cowl and a top cowl configured to couple to the bottom cowl, the top cowl comprising a top cowl body that surrounds at least a portion of an engine of the outboard motor, the top cowl configured to couple with the bottom cowl, and the top cowl comprising an elongate thickened portion that extends along the top cowl body in a fore to aft direction between a front end and a rear end of the top cowl body, wherein the top cowl further comprises an opening edge configured to mate with the bottom cowl, and the elongate thickened portion extends along the top cowl from a forward end of the opening edge to a rearward end of the opening edge.