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. 12, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 09, 1997
Applicant:
Inventors:
Ching-Hsiang Hsu, Hsinchu, TW;
Shang-De Ted Chang, Fremont, CA (US);
Nader Radjy, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Assignee:
Programmable Microelectronics Corporation, San Jose, CA (US);
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G11C / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
36518518 ; 36518519 ; 36518524 ;
Abstract
A program voltage of a first level is applied to the control gate of a PMOS floating gate memory cell to realize an injection of hot electrons induced by band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) into the floating gate of the cell. As the threshold voltage of the cell increases due to the accumulation of charge on the floating gate, the injection of BTBT induced hot electrons subsides. The program voltage is reduced to a second level which induces the injection of channel hot electrons (CHE) into the floating gate, thereby boosting the rate of charge accumulation on the floating gate.