Atmel Corporation

Mirella Marsella

Lorenzo Bedarida

Stefano Surico

Andrea Sacco

Monica Marziani

Mauro Chinosi

Danut Manea

Giorgio Bosisio

Simone Bartoli

Stefano Sivero

Fabio Tassan Caser

Massimiliano Frulio

Marco Passerini

Riccardo Riva Reggiori

Maria Mostola

Aspects for program pulse generation during programming of nonvolatile electronic devices include providing a configurable voltage sequence generator to manage verify-pulse and pulse-verify switching as needed during modification operations of a programming algorithm for nonvolatile electronic devices, wherein more efficient modification operations result. In this manner, highly flexible bit sequence generation that can be easily managed by a microcontroller occurs, resulting in a shorter code length, a faster execution time, and ease of reuse in different devices. More particularly, fully compatible voltage sequence generation is introduced that can be applied on the terminals of the flash cells being modified and permits an efficient and time saving management of pulse-verify and verify-pulse switching.

Method and system for program pulse generation during programming of nonvolatile electronic devices

A flash memory device includes a flash memory array, a set of non-volatile redundancy registers, a serial interface, and testing logic coupled to the serial interface, the testing logic configured to accept a set of serial commands from an external tester; erase the array; program the array with a test pattern; read the array and compare the results with expected results to identify errors; determine whether the errors can be repaired by substituting a redundant row or column of the array, and if so, generate redundancy information; and program the redundancy information into the non-volatile redundancy registers.

Embedded architecture with serial interface for testing flash memories

A signal generator circuit is configured to generate program signals for a memory array. The program signals are applied to word lines in the memory array, and have a transient state based on a coupling characteristic of the word lines and selector gates. The transient state is configured to minimize coupling between the word lines and the gates of the selectors so that a state of each selector remains unchanged during the transient state.

Programming pulse generator

An apparatus and method for providing a temperature compensated reference current in an electronic device is disclosed. The temperature compensated reference current is compensated for temperature and other circuit variations. The reference current is provided by an improved reference current generator and may be used in a memory device or any other desired circuit.

Apparatus and method for providing a temperature compensated reference current

A system and method for preserving an error margin for a non-volatile memory that includes a memory cell, a reference cell coupled to a reference current mirror configured to mirror current through the reference cell. The system comprises a memory current mirror coupled to the memory cell and configured to mirror current through the memory cell. A sense amplifier has a first and a second input. The first input is coupled to the reference current mirror and the second input is coupled to the memory current mirror. The sense amplifier is configured to compare a voltage across the memory cell with a voltage across the reference cell.

System and method for preserving an error margin for a non-volatile memory

System for configuring parameters used in flash memory devices. A load instruction and associated address are retrieved from a memory, and the address is used to select a configuration register storing a configuration value. The configuration value is loaded to an associated dedicated register to configure a parameter of the flash memory in a flash memory operation.

System for configuring parameters for a flash memory

A current mirror comprising: current source; a first p-channel transistor having a source coupled to operating potential, and a gate and drain coupled to current source; a second p-channel transistor having a source coupled to operating potential, a gate coupled to gate of first p-channel transistor, and a drain; a zero-threshold p-channel transistor having a source coupled to drain of second p-channel transistor, a gate coupled to gate of first p-channel transistor, and a drain; a first n-channel transistor having a source coupled to ground, and a gate and drain coupled to drain of zero-threshold p-channel transistor; a second n-channel transistor having a source coupled to ground, a gate coupled to gate of first n-channel transistor, and a drain; and a zero-threshold n-channel transistor having a source coupled to drain of second n-channel transistor, a gate coupled to gate of first n-channel transistor, and a drain coupled to current-output node.

Fast dynamic low-voltage current mirror with compensated error

A current mirror comprising: a current source; a first p-channel MOS transistor having a source coupled to an operating potential, and a gate and a drain coupled to the current source; a second p-channel MOS transistor having a source coupled to the operating potential, a gate coupled to the gate of the first p-channel transistor, and a drain; a first n-channel MOS transistor having a source coupled to ground, and a gate and a drain coupled to the drain of the second p-channel transistor; a zero-threshold n-channel MOS transistor having a drain coupled to a current-output node, a gate coupled to the gate of the first n-channel transistor, and a source; and a second n-channel MOS transistor having a source coupled to ground, and a gate coupled to the gate of the first n-channel transistor and a drain coupled to the source of the zero-threshold n-channel transistor.

Method and system for configuring parameters used in flash memory devices. A load instruction and associated address are retrieved from a read-only memory, and the address is used to select a configuration register storing a configuration value. The configuration value is loaded to an associated dedicated register to configure a parameter of the flash memory in a flash memory operation. In another aspect, one or more selected configuration values not stored in a ROM are changed if a tested flash memory operation is not within desired specifications.

Method and system for configuring parameters for flash memory

A current mirror comprising: a first current source; a first n-channel MOS transistor having a drain and a gate coupled to said current source and a source coupled to ground; a second n-channel MOS transistor having a drain, a gate coupled to said drain and said gate of said first n-channel MOS transistor, and a source coupled to ground; a third n-channel MOS transistor having a source coupled to said drain of said second n-channel MOS transistor, a gate, and a drain comprising an output-current node; a second current source; a p-channel MOS transistor having a drain coupled to ground, a source coupled to said second current source and said gate of said third n-channel MOS transistor, and a gate coupled to said drain and said gate of said first n-channel MOS transistor.

A memory cell sensing circuit to sense data from a memory cell includes a reference memory cell coupled to pass a reference current. A sense amplifier has a first input and a second input coupled to a bias circuit of the data memory cell. A first mirror mirrors the reference current to a voltage coupled to the first input of the sense amplifier. A second mirror mirrors the reference current to a voltage coupled to the bias circuit of the data memory cell. A third mirror mirrors the reference current to a voltage coupled to the second input of the sense amplifier through a pass gate.

Growing community of inventors

Taranto, Italy

Mirella Marsella