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:
May. 31, 2005
Filed:
May. 04, 2004
Andrew Horch, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Tapan Samaddar, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Scott Robins, San Jose, CA (US);
Andrew Horch, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Tapan Samaddar, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Scott Robins, San Jose, CA (US);
T-Ram, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A reference cell produces a reference current that is about half of the current produced by a memory cell. The reference cell is essentially the same as the memory cell with an additional current reduction device that can be a transistor. Adjusting a reference voltage applied to the transistor allows the reference current to be varied. A control circuit to produce the reference voltage includes dedicated memory and reference cells and a feedback circuit that compares the two cell' currents. The feedback circuit applies the reference voltage to the reference cell of the control circuit and adjusts the reference voltage until the current from the reference cell is about half of th current from the memory cell. The reference voltage is then applied to other reference cells in a memory array.