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:
Feb. 04, 2003
Filed:
Nov. 09, 2001
Robert Tu, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Sunil Mehta, San Jose, CA (US);
Lattice Semiconductor Corporation, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Abstract
A non-volatile memory cell is disclosed with increased drive current. A low voltage read transistor is used to increase the drive current. However, with a low voltage read transistor, extra protection is needed to ensure the read transistor is not damaged by high voltage. In one aspect, an isolation transistor is inserted between the read transistor and a sense transistor. The isolation transistor, read transistor and sense transistor are connected in series. When a high voltage is used during an erase operation of the memory cell, the isolation transistor absorbs some of the voltage to protect the read transistor from an excessive voltage level.