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. 16, 2002
Filed:
Aug. 09, 2001
Gennady Goltman, Haifa, IL;
Tower Semiconductor Ltd., Migdal Haemek, IL;
Abstract
A non-volatile memory system having an array of 2-bit cells is provided, wherein each cell stores an odd bit and an even bit. An ERASE pulse is applied to either the odd bits or the even bits in response to an ODD_EVEN control signal, which toggles in response to an ERASE pulse. A first ERASE pulse is applied to the odd bits. An erase verify operation is then performed until failing. The erase verify operation will likely fail on an even bit, which has not yet received an ERASE pulse. After the erase verify operation fails, a second ERASE pulse is applied to the even bits in response to the toggled ODD_EVEN control signal. The erase verify operation then resumes until this operation fails, or is successfully completed. This process continues until the erase verify operation is successful. A similar method enables a plurality of NVM blocks to be erased.