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. 31, 2004
Filed:
Apr. 05, 2002
Farid Nemati, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Mahmood Reza Kasnavi, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Robert Homan Igehy, Los Altos, CA (US);
Abstract
The soft error rate in a semiconductor memory is improved via the use of a circuit and arrangement adapted to use a mirror bit to recover from a soft error. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, a semiconductor device includes first and mirror memory cells configured and arranged to receive and store a same bit in response to a write operation, with the memory cells more susceptible to a bit error in which the stored bit changes from a first state to a second state than to a change from the second state into the first state. The memory cells are separated by a distance that is sufficient to make the likelihood of both memory cells being upset by a same source very low. For a read operation, the bits stored at the fist and second memory cells are compared. If the bits are the same, the bit from the first and/or mirror bit is read out, and if the bits are different, a bit corresponding to the more susceptible state is read out. In this manner, soft errors can be overcome.