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:
Sep. 14, 2004
Filed:
Jun. 21, 2002
Koichi Seki, Hino, JP;
Takeshi Wada, Akishima, JP;
Tadashi Muto, Iruma, JP;
Kazuyoshi Shoji, Akishima, JP;
Yasurou Kubota, Akishima, JP;
Hitoshi Kume, Musashino, JP;
Renesas Technology Corp., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An EEPROM having an erasing control circuit that performs at least the read out operation one time on the corresponding memory cells after an erasing operation is performed in connection therewith. The erasing operation is automatically performed by the internal erasing control circuit while the EEPROM is electrically isolated from the microprocessor in response to instructions from the microprocessor. The control by the microprocessor requires only a slightly short period of time during which the erasing commencement is instructed while the EEPROM remains in the system during the erasing operation. In one aspect of the disclosure, a Vcc power source is applied to a source region or a drain region of each nonvolatile semiconductor memory cell, and an erasure voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the Vcc power source is applied to a control gate electrode.