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:
Mar. 13, 2007
Filed:
Jun. 03, 2005
Marco Redaelli, Milan, IT;
Luca DE Ambroggi, Dresden, DE;
Marco Redaelli, Milan, IT;
Luca de Ambroggi, Dresden, DE;
Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, DE;
Infineon Technologies Flash GmbH & Co. KG, Dresden, DE;
Abstract
A method of sensing a state of a non-volatile semiconductor memory cell is provided. A memory cell current as well as a comparative current generated from at least one reference cell are compared with a predefined reference current while the gate voltages of the cells are varied. Sense amplifiers detect which of said currents first reaches the predefined reference current. The order of reaching the reference current is indicative of the state of the memory cell. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the comparative current is generated as an average of an erased reference cell current and a programmed reference cell current.