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. 10, 2017
Filed:
Oct. 27, 2015
Sandisk Technologies Inc., Plano, TX (US);
Anirudh Amarnath, San Jose, CA (US);
Tai-Yuan Tseng, Milpitas, CA (US);
SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES LLC, Plano, TX (US);
Abstract
Methods and systems for sensing memory cells using a sense amplifier that can support both ramp sensing and conventional sensing are described. With ramp sensing, a word line of a memory array may be ramped up linearly and a sensing operation may be performed by the sense amplifier while the word line is continuously being ramped up. In this case, during the sensing operation, the sense amplifier may sense a bit line of the memory array connected to a memory cell while the word line is ramping up and then transfer the result into a data latch. In contrast, with conventional sensing, a bit line of the memory array may be first precharged to a particular voltage level (e.g., a read voltage level) and then sensed while the word line is held at the particular voltage level.