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:
Oct. 19, 2004
Filed:
May. 15, 2003
Paola Cavaleri, Rousset, FR;
Bruno Leconte, Rousset, FR;
Sébastien Zink, Aix en Provence, FR;
Jean Devin, le Tholonet, FR;
STMicroelectronics S.A., Montrouge, FR;
Abstract
The present invention relates to a page-erasable FLASH memory including a memory array having a plurality of pages each with floating-gate transistors connected by their gates to word lines, a word line decoder connected to the word lines of the memory, and the application of a positive erase voltage to the source or drain electrodes of all the floating-gate transistors of a sector forming a page to be erased. According to the present invention, the word line decoder includes a unit for applying, when a page is being erased, a negative erase voltage to the gates of the transistors of the page to be erased, while applying a positive inhibit voltage to the gates of the transistors of at least one page that is not to be erased.