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:
May. 02, 1995
Filed:
May. 28, 1992
Giovanni Santin, S. Rufina, IT;
Giovanni Naso, Frosinone, IT;
Sebastiano D'Arrigo, Cannes, FR;
Michael C Smayling, Missouri City, TX (US);
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a nonvolatile memory array is encased in a P-tank, and the P-tank encased in a deep N-tank, the two tanks separating the memory array from the substrate and from the other circuitry of the integrated memory circuit. The deep N-tank allows application of a negative voltage of perhaps -8 V to the P-tank encasing the memory array. Application of that negative voltage permits the cells of the memory array to be programmed with voltage pulses having a peak value of about +10 V, rather than the +18 V peak value of prior-art memory arrays. Because the external circuitry, such as the wordline driver circuit, need drive the wordlines at +10 V rather than +18 V, the invention permits construction of that external circuitry using thinner gate insulators and space-saving shorter dimensions.