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. 24, 2004
Filed:
Apr. 12, 2002
Ciaran J. Brennan, Essex Junction, VT (US);
John A. Fifield, Underhill, VT (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A localized direct sense architecture circuit includes a large number (e.g. 8) of microcells, each having a primary sense amp PSA, coupled to one global data line which is coupled to one secondary sense amp SSA. Each PSA includes its own bias current device, which supplies bias current to sense devices in the PSA and is also used for precharge, such that the bias current does not flow along the highly capacitive global data line. With this technical approach, the size of each bias current supply device can be substantially reduced, and the number of PSAs on one global data line can be increased for increased layout density.