Centre Electronique Horloger S. A.

Fritz Leuenberger

Bernard Gerber

An electrically reprogrammable non-volatile memory device is disclosed which includes complementary MOS transistors provided with a polycrystalline silicon floating gate electrode in a common n.sup.- -type substrate. The device comprises three main parts. The first part, which is used for writing, comprises a p-channel writing transistor, a p-channel control transistor and a resistance element. The second part, which comprises a second gate electrode capacitance coupled with the floating gate, is used for erasing. The third part is used for performing information read-out and consists of a p-channel transistor the gate of which forms a portion of the floating gate and the drain of which is connected to a read-out terminal and to the terminal of a loading element having its other terminal connected to a negative supply potential. This device enables writing control to be performed using a logical signal of the order of one volt, read-out being also performed with a low voltage value, with low energy consumption. Erasure of information can be performed electrically and the retention time is of several years.

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Hinterkappelen, Switzerland

Fritz Leuenberger