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:
Nov. 14, 2000
Filed:
Oct. 14, 1999
Colin S Bill, Cupertino, CA (US);
Shigekazu Yamada, Cupertino, CA (US);
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Fujitsu Ltd., , JP;
Abstract
The present invention discloses a method for saving overhead programming time in a flash memory. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, a wordline voltage generation circuit and a bitline voltage generation circuit are electrically connected with a comparator circuit. During the programming operation, the comparator circuit compares a wordline programming voltage and a bitline enabling voltage generated by the voltage generation circuits to determine when the programming voltages reach a predetermined voltage level. Once the predetermined voltage level is reached, the comparator circuit sends an output signal to a state machine that initiates programming for at least one cell. The present invention provides advantages over prior methods of programming by reducing the time period that the state machine waits to initiate programming.