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:
Jan. 06, 2009
Filed:
Dec. 20, 2006
Colin S. Bill, Cupertino, CA (US);
Swaroop Kaza, Woburn, MA (US);
Wei Daisy Cai, Fremont, CA (US);
Tzu-ning Fang, Palo Alto, CA (US);
David Gaun, Brookline, MA (US);
Eugen Gershon, San Jose, CA (US);
Michael A. Van Buskirk, Saratoga, CA (US);
Jean Wu, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Colin S. Bill, Cupertino, CA (US);
Swaroop Kaza, Woburn, MA (US);
Wei Daisy Cai, Fremont, CA (US);
Tzu-Ning Fang, Palo Alto, CA (US);
David Gaun, Brookline, MA (US);
Eugen Gershon, San Jose, CA (US);
Michael A. Van Buskirk, Saratoga, CA (US);
Jean Wu, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Spansion LLC, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
Systems and methods are disclosed that facilitate extending data retention time in a data retention device, such as a nanoscale resistive memory cell array, via assessing a resistance level in a tracking element associated with the memory array and refreshing the memory array upon a determination that the resistance of the tracking element has reached or exceeded a predetermined reference threshold resistance value. The tracking element can be a memory cell within the array itself and can have an initial resistance value that is substantially higher than an initial resistance value for a programmed memory cell in the array, such that resistance increase in the tracking cell will cause the tracking cell to reach the threshold value and trigger refresh of the array before data corruption/loss occurs in the core memory cells.