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:
Jan. 18, 2005
Filed:
May. 30, 2003
Hsin-yi Ho, Hsinchu, TW;
Nai-ping Kuo, Hsinchu, TW;
Chun-hsiung Hung, Hsinchu, TW;
Gin-liang Chen, Hsinchu, TW;
Wen-chiao Ho, Hsinchu, TW;
Ho-chun Liou, Hsinchu, TW;
Hsin-Yi Ho, Hsinchu, TW;
Nai-Ping Kuo, Hsinchu, TW;
Chun-Hsiung Hung, Hsinchu, TW;
Gin-Liang Chen, Hsinchu, TW;
Wen-Chiao Ho, Hsinchu, TW;
Ho-Chun Liou, Hsinchu, TW;
Macronix International Co., Ltd., Hsinchu, TW;
Abstract
The present invention provides a dual reference cell sensing scheme for non-volatile memory. A high voltage reference cell and a low voltage reference cell are individually coupled to two sense amplifiers for providing two distinct reference voltages for comparison against the memory cell voltage. The output of the two sense amplifiers is further connected to a second stage sense amplifier to determine the status of the memory. The dual reference cell sensing scheme provides an increased sensing window which increases performance under low voltage application. The dual reference cell sensing scheme can be implemented by either voltage-based, current-based, or ground.