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:
Sep. 08, 2009
Filed:
Apr. 21, 2008
Yasuhiko Matsunaga, Yokohama, JP;
Fumitaka Arai, Yokohama, JP;
Makoto Sakuma, Yokohama, JP;
Tadashi Iguchi, Yokohama, JP;
Hisashi Watanobe, Yokkaichi, JP;
Hiroaki Tsunoda, Yokkaichi, JP;
Yasuhiko Matsunaga, Yokohama, JP;
Fumitaka Arai, Yokohama, JP;
Makoto Sakuma, Yokohama, JP;
Tadashi Iguchi, Yokohama, JP;
Hisashi Watanobe, Yokkaichi, JP;
Hiroaki Tsunoda, Yokkaichi, JP;
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A method of reading out data from nonvolatile semiconductor memory including the steps of applying a first voltage to a bit line contact; applying a second voltage to a source line contact, wherein the second voltage is substantially smaller than the first voltage; applying a third voltage gates of third and fourth select gate transistors, the third voltage configured to bring the third and fourth select gate transistors into conduction; applying a fourth voltage to gates of the plurality of memory cell transistors of a second memory cell unit, the fourth voltage configured to bring the plurality of memory cell transistors of the second memory cell unit into conduction or not, depending on the data that is stored in the memory cell unit; and applying a fifth voltage to gates of the plurality of memory cell transistors of a first memory cell unit, the fifth voltage configured to bring the plurality of memory cell transistors of the first memory cell unit into conduction; wherein the fifth voltage is bigger than the fourth voltage.