Promos Technologies, Inc

Mosel Vitelic Corporation

Steve Eaton

Jon Allan Faue

Michael A Murray

Li-Chun Li

John D Heightley

Kook-Hwan Kwon

An output driver calibration circuit includes a programmable drive strength output pullup driver including a strongest transistor and a number of other transistors, a programmable drive strength output pulldown driver including a strongest transistor and a number of other transistors, and a calibration circuit for generating a number of control signals for controlling the transistors in the output pullup driver and the transistors in the output pulldown driver, wherein the control signals are generated simultaneously, except for two the strongest driver transistors.

High capacitive load and noise tolerant system and method for controlling the drive strength of output drivers in integrated circuit devices

A data bus circuit for an integrated circuit memory includes a 4-bit bus per I/O pad that is used to connect the memory with an I/O block, but only two bits per I/O are utilized for writing. Four bits per I/O pad are used for reading. At every falling edge of an input data strobe, the last two bits are transmitted over the bus, which eliminates the need for the precise counting of input data strobe pulses. The data bus circuit is compatible with both DDR1 and DDR2 operating modes.

Two-bit per I/O line write data bus for DDR1 and DDR2 operating modes in a DRAM

An analog delay locked loop for receiving a reference clock signal and for generating a delayed output clock signal includes a voltage controlled delay line, a fixed delay line, a delay voltage control, a fast/slow latch, a phase detector, as well as reset and clock off circuits. The fast/slow latch generates three signals that are received by the delay voltage control: a 'latched slow signal', a 'latched fast signal', as well as a &#x201c;latched fast to slow signal&#x201d;. The phase detector generates &#x201c;go fast&#x201d; and &#x201c;go slow&#x201d; signals that are received by the fast/slow latch. The analog delay locked loop sets the initial delay of the delay line at or near its minimum value on start-up. The delay is then forced to increase from the minimum value until a locking condition is achieved independent of the phase relationship between the reference and delayed clock signals.

Voltage-controlled analog delay locked loop

A limited output address register technique for selectively variable write latency in double data rate 2 (DDR2) integrated circuit memory devices providing a reduced number of paths directly connected to the output. A chain of DQ flip-flops is disclosed which is only loaded on valid write address commands but shifts continually thereafter every clock cycle. Since new READ or WRITE commands cannot be issued on successive cycles, at any given point in the chain an address (or state) is valid for at least two cycles. Therefore, a selected point in the register chain can be used to satisfy the requirements for two different latencies. For DDR2, having N write latency cases, only ceil(N/2) access points to the write address output have to be provided thereby saving on-chip area and increasing speed. In a specific embodiment disclosed, DDR1 may also be supported.

Limited output address register technique providing selectively variable write latency in DDR2 (double data rate two) integrated circuit memory devices

Data bits are prefetched from memory cells in parallel and are read out serially. The memory includes multiple stages () of latches through which the parallel data is transferred before being read out serially. The multiple stages provide suitable delays to satisfy variable latency requirements (e.g. CAS latency in DDR). The first bit for the serial output bypasses the last stage (.M). In some embodiments, the control signals controlling the stages other than the last stage in their providing the first data bit to the memory output are not functions of the control signals controlling the last stage providing the subsequent data bits to the memory output.

Multistage parallel-to-serial conversion of read data in memories, with the first serial bit skipping at least one stage

A sorting circuit () transfers data between a first group of at least four lines () on which the data items are arranged based on their addresses, and a second group of lines (, WDR, WDF, WDR, WDF) on which the data items are arranged based on the order in which they are read or written in a burst operation. Six signals (SORT) and their complements are sufficient to control the sorting circuit for both the read and the write operations, and provide both the DDR and the DDR2 functionality.

Data sorting in memories

A memory performs a hidden refresh only at the end of a read operation or when the memory is disabled but is supposed to retain data in the disabled state. When the memory is in the enabled state, the refresh is not performed at the end of any operation other than read. This is done to ensure that execution of any memory access command will not be delayed by a refresh as long as the user follows certain timing rules. Other embodiments arc also provided.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Steve Eaton