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:
Aug. 20, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 22, 2000
Shigekazu Yamada, Cupertino, CA (US);
Colin S. Bill, Cupertino, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
The present invention discloses a voltage regulation method and system that provides a predetermined erase voltage to at least one wordline during a negative gate stress mode. A low-supply voltage negative charge pump is activated to generate a relatively high negative voltage. The relatively high negative voltage is regulated to the predetermined erase voltage by a regulator circuit. Regulation of the relatively high negative voltage is based on a variable reference voltage that is generated by a reference voltage circuit and directed to the regulator circuit. The predetermined reference voltage is capable of being varied within a first predetermined voltage range, thereby varying the predetermined erase voltage. The predetermined erase voltage is transferred to the wordlines by at least one decoder circuit during an erase operation.