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:
Nov. 28, 2006
Filed:
Sep. 12, 2002
Tien-chun Yang, San Jose, CA (US);
Ming-huei Shieh, Cupertino, CA (US);
Kurihara Kazuhiro, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Pau-ling Chen, Saratoga, CA (US);
Tien-Chun Yang, San Jose, CA (US);
Ming-Huei Shieh, Cupertino, CA (US);
Kurihara Kazuhiro, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Pau-Ling Chen, Saratoga, CA (US);
Spansion, LLC, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A system and method for column selection in a non-volatile memory cell array is disclosed. A group of memory cells is arranged in a rectangular array having rows (X-dimension) and columns (Y-dimension). Within a row, the sources and drains of the memory cells are connected to form a linear chain. A common word line is coupled to each gate in the row. A separate column line is coupled to each node between adjacent memory cells of the chain. A four column Y-decoder is used to select column lines for sense operations. A voltage source is applied to two of the four column lines during the sense operation. Current on one of the column lines may be sensed to provide a measurement for read or verification.