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.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 25, 1988
Filed:
Jan. 03, 1986
Joseph G Nolan, San Jose, CA (US);
Michael A Van Buskirk, San Jose, CA (US);
Te-Long Chiu, San Jose, CA (US);
Ying K Shum, Cupertino, CA (US);
Sierra Semiconductor Corporation, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
In this invention, an Electrically Alterable Non-Volatile Memory (EANOM) cell is disclosed. The EANOM ceil comprises an MOS transistor, having a source, a gate and a drain. The EANOM cell also has a two-terminal tunnel device, one end of which is connected to the gate of the MOS transistor. The other terminal being labelled 'T'. The tunnel device causes charges to be stored or removed from the gate of the MOS transistor. In a preferred embodiment, a four-terminal EANOM cell is disclosed. The four terminals of the EANOM cell are terminals T, S (source of the MOS transistor), D (drain of the MOS transistor) and a terminal C which is capacitively coupled to the gate of the MOS transistor. The EANOM cell can be used in a memory circuit to increase the reliability thereof. Two or more EANOM cells are connected in tandem and operate simultaneously. Catastrophic failure of one EANOM cell results in an open circuit with the other EANOM cell continuing to function.