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:
Jul. 03, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 09, 2000
David A. Kamp, Monument, CO (US);
Celis Semiconductor Corporation, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
Abstract
A ferroelectric memory includes memory cells comprising a transistor having a source/drain, a ferroelectric capacitor having a first electrode and a second electrode. A plate line is connected to each of the second electrodes. In each memory cell, the first electrode is connected to the source/drain of the transistor to create a node that is isolated when the transistor is off. A shunt system directly electrically connects the isolated nodes of a pair of memory cells at a predetermined time to essentially equalize the voltages on the nodes. The shunt may be a Schottky diode, a resistor, and a pair of back-to-back diodes, or a transistor. In the embodiment in which the shunt is a transistor, the shunt line connected to the shunt transistor gate is boosted, there is a shunt transistor connecting each isolated node in a portion of the memory to the adjacent isolated node, and every eight to thirty-two isolated nodes, another shunt transistor connects the chain of isolated nodes to the plate line.