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:
Oct. 02, 2007
Filed:
Dec. 14, 2005
Der-min Yuan, Taipei County, TW;
Jen Shou Hsu, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Yao Yi Liu, Hsinchu, TW;
Etron Technology, Inc., Hsin-Chu, TW;
Abstract
Methods and circuits to reduce power consumption of DRAM local word-line drivers are disclosed. A first voltage converter provides a voltage VPP, which is lower than the voltage VPP required to operate a word-line of a DRAM cell array. A voltage detector monitors the voltage level of the local word-line driver. Once the voltage level VPPis reached on the local word-linedriver switching means as e.g. tri-state drivers put the final VPP voltage on the word line. This VPP voltage is the output of a second voltage boost converter. Putting the voltage in two stages on the word-line reduces the overall power consumption. The voltage level VPPhas to be carefully selected to find a compromised solution between current consumption and performance.