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. 04, 2011
Filed:
Mar. 02, 2009
Gregory Kengho Chen, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Dennis Michael Sylvester, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
David Theodore Blaauw, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Gregory Kengho Chen, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Dennis Michael Sylvester, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
David Theodore Blaauw, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
The Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Abstract
A memory cellwithin an integrated circuit memory is provided with an access controllercoupled to a first pass gateand a second pass gate. During a write access to the memory cellboth the first pass gateand the second pass gateare opened. During a read access, the first pass gateis opened and the second pass gateis closed. This asymmetry in the read and write operations permits an asymmetry in the gates forming the memory cellthereby permitting changes to increase both read robustness and write robustness. The asymmetry in the design parameters of different gates can take the form of varying the gate length, the gate width and the threshold voltage so as to vary the conductance of different gates to suit their individual role within the memory cellwhich is operating in the asymmetric manner provided by the separate word line signals driving read operations and write operations.