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:
Apr. 01, 2014
Filed:
Apr. 03, 2012
Yue-der Chih, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Chun-jung Lin, HsinChu, TW;
Kai-chun Lin, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Hung-chang Yu, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Yue-Der Chih, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Chun-Jung Lin, HsinChu, TW;
Kai-Chun Lin, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Hung-Chang Yu, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Hsin-Chu, TW;
Abstract
A reference circuit discerns high or low resistance states of a magneto-resistive memory element such as a bit cell. The reference circuit has magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) elements in complementary high and low resistance states Rand R, providing a voltage, current or other parameter for comparison against the memory element to discern a resistance state. The parameter represents an intermediate resistance straddled by Rand R, such as an average or twice-parallel resistance. The reference MTJ elements are biased from the same read current source as the memory element but their magnetic layers are in opposite order, physically or by order along bias current paths. The reference MTJ elements are biased to preclude any read disturb risk. The memory bit cell is coupled to the same bias polarity source along a comparable path, being safe from read disturb risk in one of its two possible logic states.