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. 30, 1998
Filed:
Oct. 03, 1996
Vikram Kowshik, Fremont, CA (US);
Programmable Microelectronic Corporation, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A switching circuit is disclosed herein which prevents an unwanted forward biasing of P/N junctions therein while allowing voltages exceeding the supply voltage to be provided in a precise manner to such floating gate memory cells. In accordance with the present invention, a switching circuit includes a first stage which effectively isolates programming voltages from supply voltages during programming and erasing operations, thereby allowing program and erase voltages exceeding supply voltage to be provided to an associated memory array. The switching circuit includes a second stage which prevents the unwanted forward-biasing of P/N junctions within the switch and its associated memory array by controlling the discharge rate of internal node when transitioning from either a programming or erasing operation to a read operation.