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:
May. 13, 2003
Filed:
Apr. 09, 2002
Pavel Poplevine, Foster City, CA (US);
Hengyang Lin, San Jose, CA (US);
Andrew J. Franklin, Santa Clara, CA (US);
National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A static RAM bit cell and a system and method for operating an array of such static RAM bit cells. The static RAM bit cell herein includes a cell of four transistors configured to store data. It also includes a pair of word line pass transistors and a pair of column pass transistors coupled to the cell of four transistors. The word line pass transistors are coupled to a word line such that they can be opened in closed in response to a signal on the word line. The column pass transistors are coupled to a column select transistor such that they can be opened and closed in response to a signal on the column select line. Using this configuration signals can be generated on the word line and the column select line so that only a small fraction of the total number of static RAM bit cells in an array need to be charged and discharged in connection with performing read and write operations to a specific static RAM bit cell.