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:
Feb. 13, 2007
Filed:
May. 06, 2005
Lorenzo Bedarida, Milan, IT;
Simone Bartoli, Via Monte Bianco, IT;
Giorgio Oddone, Genoa, IT;
Davide Manfre′, Bologna, IT;
Lorenzo Bedarida, Milan, IT;
Simone Bartoli, Via Monte Bianco, IT;
Giorgio Oddone, Genoa, IT;
Davide Manfre′, Bologna, IT;
Atmel Corporation, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A method for discharge in a flash memory device includes: initiating a discharge of a memory cell after an erase operation; coupling a first discharge circuit to a first plate of a gate-bulk capacitor, and a second discharge circuit to a second plate of the gate-bulk capacitor, where the first plate represents the common gate node of the memory cell and the second plate represents the bulk-source node of the memory cell; and coupling the common gate node and the bulk-source node to ground to provide for a complete discharge. The current injected into the first plate approximately equals the current extracted from the second plate. In this manner, dangerous oscillations of the gate and bulk-source voltages as they go to ground are eliminated without complicated designs or voltage limitators, and without sacrificing the fast discharge after the erase operation. The reliability of the discharge operation is thus significantly improved.