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:
Apr. 03, 2001
Filed:
Jul. 28, 1999
Applicant:
Inventors:
Michael G. Ahrens, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Anders T. Dejenfelt, San Jose, CA (US);
Qi Lin, Cupertino, CA (US);
Robert A. Olah, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Assignee:
Xilinx, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G11C 1/604 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G11C 1/604 ;
Abstract
A plurality of flash electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) cells is disclosed wherein metal lines couple both the sources and the drains of the flash cells. Reading of these flash cells is accomplished by applying a positive voltage to the source and reading from the associated metal source line. A soft erase scheme for increasing the threshold voltage of over-programmed flash cells is provided that prevents the leakage caused by applying a positive voltage to the drain.