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. 08, 2003
Filed:
Jun. 01, 2001
Macronix International Co., Ltd., Hsinchu, TW;
Abstract
A one transistor, non-volatile programmable switch having four operating states for connection between circuit elements and passive elements including bus lines and input/output pads. The four states include a first unidirectional state in which the cell allows signal flow in a first direction, a second unidirectional state in which the cell allows signal flow in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, a third state in which the cell allows bi-directional signal flow, and a fourth state resenting high impedance in which signal flow is blocked (the switch is open). A non-volatile programmable transistor having a drain coupled to one of the first node and second node, a source coupled to the other of the first node and second node, a gate coupled to an energizing conductor, and a data storage structure constitute the programmable switch. The non-volatile programmable transistor used in the switch is a charge programmable device (e.g. SONOS cell), in which the data storage structure comprises a nitride layer, or other charge tapping layer, between oxides or other insulators.