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. 11, 2006
Filed:
Feb. 13, 2004
Nestor Tzartzanis, Belmont, CA (US);
William W. Walker, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Nestor Tzartzanis, Belmont, CA (US);
William W. Walker, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, JP;
Abstract
Disclosed is a memory architecture where current sense amplifiers are used instead of voltage sense amplifiers, and where the memory cells normally disposed along a single bit line are divided between two half bit lines. Each half bit line is coupled to a respective input of the current sense amplifier. When one of the memory cells is selected for reading, it couples a current related to its stored data state to the half bit line that it is coupled to. During this operation, a reference current is generated on the other half bit line. Also disclosed are novel current sense amplifiers.