Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080298131 | INTEGRATED CIRCUIT FEATURING A NON-VOLATILE MEMORY WITH CHARGE/DISCHARGE RAMP RATE CONTROL AND METHOD THEREFOR - An integrated circuit ( | 12-04-2008 |
20090034339 | NON-VOLATILE MEMORY HAVING A DYNAMICALLY ADJUSTABLE SOFT PROGRAM VERIFY VOLTAGE LEVEL AND METHOD THEREFOR - An erase operation in a non-volatile memory includes selecting a block on which to perform an erase operation, erasing the selected block, receiving test data corresponding to the selected block, determining a soft program verify voltage level based on the test data, and soft programming the erased selected block using the soft program verify voltage level. A non-volatile memory includes a plurality of blocks, a test block which stores test data corresponding to each of the plurality of blocks, and a flash control coupled to the plurality of blocks and the test block, the flash control determining a soft program verify voltage level for a particular block of the plurality of blocks based on the test data for the particular block when the particular block is being soft programmed. | 02-05-2009 |
20090034352 | METHOD AND CIRCUIT FOR PREVENTING HIGH VOLTAGE MEMORY DISTURB - A circuit and method reduces disturb in a memory array resulting from one of two supply voltages dropping below a predetermined value. Memory control logic is operated using a logic power domain. Higher voltages than that of the logic power domain are generated in response to an oscillator oscillating. The higher voltages are used to operate the memory array. Operation of the oscillator is controlled with the memory control logic when the logic power domain is at least at a first level or value. The oscillator is disabled when the logic power domain is below the first level. The disabling of the oscillator has the effect of preventing generation of the higher voltages. This facilitates preventing the higher voltages from reaching the memory array when they may not be properly controlled. | 02-05-2009 |
20090059629 | VOLTAGE REGULATOR FOR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS - A voltage regulator for a charge pump includes a capacitor divider and a reset circuit. The capacitor divider produces, based on an input voltage (VPP), a sample voltage at a sampling node. The sampling node and a reference voltage VREF are connected to respective inputs of a comparator that generates an enable signal for the charge pump. The reset circuit connects to the divider and includes a first transistor connected between the sampling node and a biasing node. During a sampling mode, the reset circuit biases VDS of the first transistor to approximately zero at the regulation point to minimize subthreshold IDS. During reset intervals, the reset circuit applies VREF to the biasing node. The reset circuit may include a second transistor connected between the biasing node and a known level (e.g., ground) and a biasing transistor connected between the biasing node and VREF. | 03-05-2009 |
20090140795 | HIGH-DYNAMIC RANGE LOW RIPPLE VOLTAGE MULTIPLIER - A voltage multiplier ( | 06-04-2009 |
20110025379 | LATCHED COMPARATOR AND METHODS THEREFOR - A compare cycle of a comparator includes a precharge phase and a compare phase. During the precharge phase, a node of the comparator is precharged to a defined voltage. In addition, during the precharge phase an input transistor of the comparator is decoupled from the node. During the compare phase, an input voltage is coupled to the node via the input transistor. The input transistor is maintained in saturation during both the precharge phase and the compare phase, reducing switching noise. | 02-03-2011 |
20110057694 | REGULATOR HAVING INTERLEAVED LATCHES - A charge pump system ( | 03-10-2011 |
20110221410 | CURRENT INJECTOR CIRCUIT FOR SUPPLYING A LOAD TRANSIENT IN AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT - A current injector circuit comprises a clock modulating circuit, a first current injector, a feedback circuit, a first input modulating circuit and a second current injector. The clock modulating circuit receives a clock, a control signal, and an output. The first current injector has an input coupled to the clock modulating circuit, and an output coupled to a power supply terminal for providing a first current. The feedback circuit is coupled between the power supply terminal and another input of the clock modulating circuit. The feedback circuit is for providing the control signal for controlling the clock modulating circuit. The first current injector provides the first current in response to the clock modulating circuit. The first input modulating circuit receives an input signal, the control signal, and an output. The second current injector has an input coupled to the first input modulating circuit, and an output for providing a second current. | 09-15-2011 |
20120014179 | SOFT PROGRAM OF A NON-VOLATILE MEMORY BLOCK - A method includes erasing bits and identifying bits that have been over-erased by the erasing. A first subset of the bits that have been over-erased are soft programmed. The results of soft programming the first subset of bits is measured. An initial voltage condition from a plurality of possible voltage conditions based on the results from soft programming the first subset of bits is selected. A second subset of bits that have been over-erased are soft programmed. The soft programming applies the initial voltage condition to the bits in the second subset of bits. The second subset comprises bits that are still over-erased when the step of selecting occurs. The result is that the soft programming for the second subset may begin at a more optimum point for quickly achieving the needed soft programming to bring all of the bits within the desired erase condition. | 01-19-2012 |
20120113714 | METHOD FOR PROGRAMMING A MULTI-STATE NON-VOLATILE MEMORY (NVM) - A method is provided for programming a multi-state flash memory having a plurality of memory cells. A first programming pulse is provided to the flash array; determining a threshold voltage distribution for the plurality of memory cells after providing the first programming pulse. The plurality of memory cells is categorized into at least two bins based on a threshold voltage of each memory cell of the plurality of memory cells. A first voltage is selected for a second programming pulse for programming a first bin of memory cells of the at least two bins, the first voltage based on both a threshold voltage of the first bin and a first target threshold voltage. A second voltage is selected for a third programming pulse for programming a second bin of memory cells of the at least two bins, the second voltage based on both the threshold voltage of the second bin and on a second target threshold voltage. | 05-10-2012 |
20120117307 | NON-VOLATILE MEMORY (NVM) ERASE OPERATION WITH BROWNOUT RECOVERY TECHNIQUE - A method for erasing a non-volatile memory includes: performing a first pre-erase program step on the non-volatile memory; determining that the non-volatile memory failed to program correctly during the first pre-erase program step; performing a first soft program step on the non-volatile memory in response to determining that the non-volatile memory failed to program correctly; determining that the non-volatile memory soft programmed correctly; performing a second pre-erase program step on the non-volatile memory in response to determining that the non-volatile memory soft programmed correctly during the first soft program step; and performing an erase step on the non-volatile memory. The method may be performed using a non-volatile memory controller. | 05-10-2012 |
20120201082 | ERASE RAMP PULSE WIDTH CONTROL FOR NON-VOLATILE MEMORY - A method of erasing a memory block of a non-volatile memory, including setting a pulse width of erase pulses to an initial width, repeatedly applying erase pulses to the memory block until the memory block meets an erase metric or until a maximum number of erase pulses have been applied, gradually adjusting a pulse voltage magnitude of the erase pulses from an initial pulse voltage level to a maximum pulse voltage level, and reducing the width of the erase pulses to less than the initial width when the pulse voltage magnitude reaches an intermediate voltage level between the initial pulse voltage level and the maximum pulse voltage level. Thus, narrow pulses are applied at higher voltage levels to reduce the amount of over erasure of the memory block. | 08-09-2012 |
20140022022 | ERROR DETECTION AT AN OSCILLATOR - An error detection system employs a chain of delay elements connected in an open loop configuration. To determine whether the oscillator is operating within a specified set of parameters, the error detection system applies a start pulse to an input of the open-loop chain of delay elements. The error detection system compares the resulting output signal with the output of the oscillator. If the oscillator has locked onto a harmonic of the intended output frequency, the comparison of the output signals will indicate an error. | 01-23-2014 |
20140140161 | NON-VOLATILE MEMORY ROBUST START-UP USING ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER - In accordance with at least one embodiment, an onboard analog-to-digital converter (ADC) on a system-on-a-chip (SOC) is utilized to determine whether a charge pump output for a non-volatile memory (NVM) is correct or not. The SOC is directed to wait until the output is within an expected range before moving to the next step in a start-up procedure. If the maximum allowed start-up time is exceeded, an error signal is sent to the SOC such that the application can react to it. | 05-22-2014 |
20140145699 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING POWER IN SEMICONDUCTOR CIRCUITS - A power control circuit includes a plurality of transistors coupled between a power supply node and a gated power supply node, wherein the gate electrode of a first transistor of the plurality of transistors is coupled to receive a power control signal, wherein, in response to assertion of the power control signal, the first transistor is placed into a conductive state; a first voltage comparator, wherein, in response to assertion of the power control signal, places a second transistor of the plurality of transistors in a conductive state when a voltage on the gated voltage supply node reaches a first reference voltage; and a second voltage comparator, wherein, in response to assertion of the power control signal, places a third transistor of the plurality of transistors in a conductive state when the voltage on the gated voltage supply node reaches a second reference voltage different from the first reference voltage. | 05-29-2014 |
20140145765 | VOLTAGE RAMP-UP PROTECTION - Systems and methods for voltage ramp-up protection. In an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, a method may include monitoring at least one of a first node or a second node, the first node configured to receive a first voltage greater than a second voltage present at a second node, and, in response to a slew rate of the first voltage creating a sneak condition between the first node and the second node, counteracting the sneak condition. For example, the sneak condition may favor an excess current to flow from the first node to the second node. In some cases, counteracting the sneak condition may include maintaining the second voltage below at or below a predetermined value. | 05-29-2014 |
20140204694 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ADAPTIVE SOFT PROGRAMMING FOR NON-VOLATILE MEMORY USING TEMPERATURE SENSOR - Erasing of a non-volatile memory (NVM) having an array of bit cells includes soft programming after an initial erasing of the bit cells. Over-erased bit cells are determined. A temperature is detected. A first soft program gate voltage based on the temperature is provided. Soft programming on the over-erased bit cells using the first soft program gate voltage is performed. Any remaining over-erased bit cells are identified. if there are any remaining over-erased bit cells, soft programming is performed on the remaining over-erased bit cells using a second soft program gate voltage incremented from the first soft program gate voltage. | 07-24-2014 |
20140241091 | SENSE AMPLIFIER VOLTAGE REGULATOR - A memory is disclosed that includes a plurality of memory cells, a plurality of sense amplifiers for reading data of the memory cells, and a voltage regulator coupled to the plurality of sense amplifiers. The voltage regulator includes a reference sense amplifier, a current injector, and a current injector control circuit. The current injector control circuit controls an amount of current provided by the current injector to an output node of the voltage regulator based on a voltage of the reference sense amplifier. | 08-28-2014 |
20140254285 | Temperature-Based Adaptive Erase or Program Parallelism - A method includes, in one implementation, performing a memory operation to place memory cells of a memory array to a first logic state using a voltage of a charge pump. A portion of the operation is performed on the memory cells using the voltage of the charge pump. A temperature of the memory array is compared to a threshold. If the temperature is above a reference level, a load on the charge pump is reduced by providing the voltage to only a reduced number of memory cells. | 09-11-2014 |
20140269132 | NEGATIVE CHARGE PUMP REGULATION - A negative charge pump is responsive to a pump enable signal. A voltage controlled current source provides a current. A resistor is coupled between a node from the voltage controlled current source and a negative charge output from the negative charge pump. A capacitor is placed in parallel with the resistor. A comparator generates the pump enable signal to control the negative charge pump. The comparator is coupled to the resistor and the capacitor and measures an IR drop thereacross and compares this measurement against a reference threshold. A level of the pump enable signal can be variable by tuning an amount of resistance of the resistor or capacitor or adjusting the reference threshold. A memory can be driven by a method of the negative charge pump. | 09-18-2014 |