Sandisk Corporation

Leon Sea Jiunn Wong

Sau Ching Wong

Carl William Werner

Hock C So

Cheng-Yuan Michael Wang

Andreas M Haeberli

Techniques are used to store information in a medium such as the memory cells of an integrated circuit, and also retrieval of information from the medium. The integrated circuit includes nonvolatile memory cells () capable of multilevel or analog voltage level storage. The integrated circuit may store or record information in analog or digital form, or both. Information is stored in and retrieved from the integrated circuit using a user-selected sampling frequency. The user's selection of the sampling frequency is stored within the integrated circuit.

Integrated circuit with analog or multilevel storage cells and user-selectable sampling frequency

An integrated circuit detects the voltage level of the supply voltage to the integrated circuit. Circuity on the integrated circuit including the charge pump circuity adjusts to operate more effectively or efficiently at the voltage level of the supply voltage.

Charge pump circuit adjustable in response to an external voltage source

Adjustable circuits for analog or multi-level memory

Techniques are used to store information in a medium such as the memory cells of an integrated circuit, and also retrieval of information from the medium. The integrated circuit includes nonvolatile memory cells ( ) capable of multilevel or analog voltage level storage. The integrated circuit may store or record information in analog or digital form, or both. Information is stored in and retrieved from the integrated circuit using a user-selected sampling frequency. The user's selection of the sampling frequency is stored within the integrated circuit.

An integrated circuit stores analog or digital information, or both, in memory cells (,). The memory cells provide analog or multilevel storage. Analog information is provided through an analog signal input (,), and digital information is provided through a digital signal input (,). A scheme for storing digital information is consistent with the scheme used to store analog information. Data is retrieved from the memory cells, and output to the analog or digital signal output (,) depending on the type of data. A digital reference generator reference generator (,) generates various analog equivalent voltages for the digital signal input.

Techniques for storing digital data in an analog or multilevel memory

Level shifter circuits are used to configure analog or multilevel memory cells. A level shifter circuit generates an output voltage that is above the input voltage by an offset voltage value. The magnitude of this offset voltage or the relationship between the input and output voltages of the level shifter is adjustable or programmably selectable. Adjustments can be made after the integrated circuits is fabricated and packaged. Adjustments are made by configuring bits of data in the integrated circuit to indicate the offset voltage or other parameters. These configuration bits are implemented using latches, flip-flops, registers, memory cells, or other storage circuits.

Adjustable level shifter circuits for analog or multilevel memories

An integrated circuit memory is capable of storing analog information without the need for A/D conversion. Samples of a analog signal input are stored in nonvolatile memory cells. The integrated circuit is also capable of storing digital information in digital form. The sampling rate at which the analog signal input is sampled is user selectable. An internal signal path of the integrated circuit memory is differential, which enhances the precision with which the analog signal is stored in the memory cells.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Leon Sea Jiunn Wong