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:
May. 18, 2010
Filed:
Apr. 26, 2007
Jeff A. Babcock, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Yuri Mirgorodski, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Natalia Lavrovskaya, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Saurabh Desai, Fremont, CA (US);
Jeff A. Babcock, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Yuri Mirgorodski, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Natalia Lavrovskaya, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Saurabh Desai, Fremont, CA (US);
National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A heating element is utilized to improve the bias conditions of an EPROM cell during program and erase operations. The heating element can also be used to anneal or condition the cell for improved charge storage. During a program or an erase operation, the cell's control gate and read transistor are set to ground. The heating element then has a voltage potential applied across its terminals, causing current to flow in this resistor. As the current density increases, the resistor begins to generate heat. This heat is thermally coupled into the cell's floating gate, causing its temperature to rise.