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:
Dec. 25, 2000
Filed:
Aug. 18, 1998
James Brady, Plano, TX (US);
STMicroelectronics, Inc., Carrollton, TX (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for reducing the time for determining a memory refresh frequency for a dynamic random access memory. The method includes disabling the bootstrap circuitry associated with a word line when writing data into a memory cell during a test operation. For instances in which data representing a high logic level is written into the memory cell, the resulting charge that is stored is less than the stored charge under normal operation of the dynamic memory. Consequently, the decay time for the stored charge is shortened, thereby shortening the time for testing the refresh frequency of the memory cell. Testing time for the dynamic memory is thus reduced.