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:
Jun. 02, 1998
Filed:
Oct. 25, 1996
Loren T Lancaster, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
Ryan T Hirose, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
NVX Corporation, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
Abstract
A semiconductor integrated circuit to determine a passage of time that may include a time during which no electrical power is supplied to the circuit is disclosed. The circuit has a timing device that includes a memory storage dielectric material for trapping charge carriers and releasing the trapped charge carriers in a known manner over time. The timing device has an electrical parameter that is relatable to an electric field created by the trapped charge carriers. A charge injection circuit is provided for selectively injecting charge carriers into the memory storage dielectric material to create an initialized state, and a time reader circuit determines when the electrical parameter has reached a predetermined value that corresponds to a passage of a predetermined time. Preferably the timing device is an insulated gate field effect transistor in which the memory storage dielectric material is a dielectric material, such as SONOS or SNOS, between the gate and channel overlying at least the channel area.