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:
Dec. 25, 1990
Filed:
Apr. 07, 1989
XICOR, Inc., Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
A nonvolatile, semiconductor randon access memory cell comprising a static RAM element and a nonvolatile memory element having differential charge storage capabilities is presented. The static RAM and nonvolatile memory elements are interconnected to allow information to be exchanged between two elements, thus allowing the faster static RAM element to serve as the primary memory to the system and allowing the nonvolatile memory element to serve as permanent storage during power-down conditions. In one embodiment, the nonvolatile memory element comprises two electrically erasable PROM devices (EEPROMs). The two EEPROM devices store differential charges corresponding to the complementary outputs of the static RAM element. The nature of the differential charge storage allows lower programming voltages to be used on the EEPROM devices, resulting in increased storage intergrity and increased endurance of the EEPROM devices.