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:
Jul. 26, 2005
Filed:
Apr. 24, 2003
Rino Micheloni, Turate, IT;
Aldo Losavio, Bergamo, IT;
Rino Micheloni, Turate, IT;
Aldo Losavio, Bergamo, IT;
STMicroelectronics S.r.l., Agrate Brianza, IT;
Abstract
A self-repair method intervenes at the end of an operation of modification of a nonvolatile memory, selected between programming and erasing, in the event of detection of just one non-functioning cell, and carries out redundancy of the non-functioning cell. To this end, the memory array is divided into a basic portion, formed by a plurality of memory cells storing basic data, and into an in-the-field redundancy portion. The in-the-field redundancy portion is designed to store redundancy data that include a correct content of the non-functioning cell, the address of the non-functioning cell, and an activated redundancy flag. The redundancy is activated only after applying a preset maximum number of modification pulses and uses a redundancy replacement circuit and a redundancy data verification circuit.