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. 30, 2002
Filed:
Nov. 21, 2000
Tam Nguyen, San Jose, CA (US);
Silicon Storage Technology, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
The self-latching data circuit reads data from a pair of memory cells and latches the read data in response to a single transition of an enable signal. The self-latching data circuit includes a pair of PFETS that pull first and second nodes to a power supply voltage in response to an enable signal being in a low state. The self-latching data circuit also includes a pair of series connected PFET and NFETS in which the first and second data nodes are formed of the node connecting the series PFET and NFET together. In response to the enable signal transitioning to a high state, the memory cells are read and the contents thereof are applied to the first and second data nodes. The signal of one data node is applied to the gates of the transistors of the transistor pair corresponding to the other data node. This feedback causes the data cell having the greatest current draw to pull the other data node to the power supply level and pull itself to a zero voltage level to thereby latch the data. In the self-latched condition, the self-latching data circuit has minimal power draw.