The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Jun. 26, 2018

Filed:

Jul. 24, 2017
Applicant:

Integrated Silicon Solution (Shanghai), Inc., Shanghai, CN;

Inventors:

Anxing Shen, Shanghai, CN;

Jianhui Xie, Shanghai, CN;

Chih-Kuang Lin, Shanghai, CN;

Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G11C 16/04 (2006.01); G11C 16/34 (2006.01); G11C 16/10 (2006.01); G11C 16/26 (2006.01); G11C 7/12 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G11C 16/0425 (2013.01); G11C 7/12 (2013.01); G11C 16/0466 (2013.01); G11C 16/0483 (2013.01); G11C 16/10 (2013.01); G11C 16/26 (2013.01); G11C 16/34 (2013.01);
Abstract

The present disclosure relates to semiconductor devices and discloses a method for operating a flash memory. When a read operation is performed on a flash memory unit, a potential of a first control line connected to gates of select gate PMOS transistors located in a same row is switched from a positive supply voltage to 0V. Since it is not required to switch the potential from a positive voltage to a negative voltage, the power consumption of the pump circuit is significantly reduced. In addition, a read current of the flash memory unit selected for reading can accurately represent the status of the unit being read thanks to the appropriate settings of the gate oxide layer thickness and the threshold voltage of the select gate PMOS transistor. Furthermore, high-voltage devices are removed from the read path and only low-voltage devices are used, so that the reading speed can be significantly improved during the read operation.


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