Patent Application
20050128797
This invention generally relates to methods of operating semiconductor memory devices and technology, and in particular to read/write operations for static random access memory (SRAM) devices that utilize negative differential resistance (NDR) elements.
A new type of SRAM device using Negative Differential Resistance Field Effect Transistors (NDR FETs) is described in detail in a patent application Ser. No. 10/029,077 filed Dec. 21, 2001 by T J King and assigned to the present assignee, and published on May 9, 2002 as Publication No. 2002/0054502. The NDR FET structure, operation and method of making the same are discussed in detail in patent application Ser. No. 09/603,101 filed Jun. 22, 2000 by King et al., which is also assigned to the present assignee. Such details are also disclosed in a corresponding PCT application PCT/US01/19825 which was published as publication no. WO01/99153 on Dec. 27, 2001. The above materials are hereby incorporated by reference.
As is well-known in the art, some of the important benchmarks for memory devices that determine the suitability for a particular application include the quiescent power rating, read speed and write speed. Futhermore, the peak-to-valley ratio (PVR) of the operating and quiescent current for a cell is also a significant factor that limits the feasibility of certain embodiments. For many applications it is believed that a PVR must exceed 10,000 to be practical at commercially desirable densities (i.e., in the MB range and above). Thus, it is apparent that the aforementioned NDR based SRAMs (and other NDR based memories) would also benefit from an increase in operating performance of the NDR elements to meet the aforementioned benchmarks.
An object of the present invention is to provide operating methods that improve characteristics of a memory device, including particularly those that incorporate static random access memory (SRAM) cells which utilize NDR FET elements.
A first aspect of the invention therefore concerns a method of operating a memory cell that includes a negative differential resistance (NDR) capable element. This generally includes the following steps: applying a bias signal to the NDR-capable element, during a first operation period in which the memory cell is storing a data value, to enable the NDR-capable element to operate with an NDR characteristic. This NDR characteristic is adjusted to facilitate storing of the data value in the memory cell during a first storage operation. During a second operation (i.e., such as a write operation) the bias signal is adjusted so as to lower the peak current (and thus also disable the NDR characteristic) immediately prior to and/or during the second operation.
In a preferred approach, the NDR-capable element is an NDR field effect transistor (FET) and the NDR characteristic is exhibited in a channel region of the NDR FET. In this manner, the bias signal is applied to a gate of the NDR FET and is adjusted so that the peak current is substantially lowered. Further in a preferred approach, the bias signal is adjusted immediately during the second operation period to re-enable the NDR characteristic and facilitate storing of a new data value written to the memory cell.
Another aspect of the invention concerns a method of operating a memory cell that exhibits variable NDR behavior during a write operation. This is achieved by applying a bias signal to the NDR element during a first period in which the memory cell is storing a data value. In this operational state, the bias signal has a first signal characteristic during the first period (for example, a high voltage level) so as to control the NDR element to have a first operating characteristic (for example, to enable an NDR behavior). During a second period, the bias signal is adjusted to have a second signal characteristic so as to control the NDR element to have a second operating characteristic (for example, to lower the peak current and disable the NDR behavior) immediately prior to and/or during a write operation associated with the memory cell.
Accordingly, in a preferred approach, the first signal characteristic is a first signal voltage amplitude level associated with the bias signal, and the second signal characteristic is a second signal voltage amplitude level associated with the bias signal. The first signal voltage amplitude level is greater than the second signal voltage amplitude level so that the first operating characteristic includes an NDR operating region and the second NDR characteristic exhibits lower peak current and may or may not include an NDR operating region.
Further in a preferred embodiment, the data value is erased before the write operation effectuates writing of a subsequent data value to the memory cell.
Finally, a preferred memory cell of this invention uses both a first NDR element (as a pull-up element) and a second NDR element (a pull-down element) connected in series to a storage node and the first NDR element. In such instances, the bias signal is applied to the second NDR element as well as the first NDR element at substantially the same time during the first period and the second period.
Yet another aspect of the invention pertains to operating a memory cell (including NDR variations) to use an indeterminate state during a write operation. This is accomplished by applying a bias signal to an NDR FET (in the memory cell) to cause it to operate with an NDR characteristic while the cell is storing a particular first data value. Later, and immediately preceeding a write operation, the first data value stored in the memory cell is effectively “erased” by adjusting the bias signal to disable the NDR characteristic. In other words, the first data value is preferably represented by a first voltage potential or a second voltage potential present in a storage node of the memory cell, and during the erasing step the storage node is set to a third voltage potential. Notably, this third voltage potential is set without regard to a voltage potential associated with a second data value to be written to the memory cell, and is caused by disabling the NDR characteristic of the FET. This then results in an indeterminate state for the storage node that lies somewhere between the first voltage potential and the second potential. The final value is not critical to this aspect of the invention. During the actual write operation, the second data value is written to the memory cell so that the storage node is adjusted from the third voltage potential (either up or down) to one of at least the first voltage potential or the second voltage potential.
In a preferred embodiment, the cell is designed and operated so that the third voltage potential corresponds to a voltage potential that is approximately half-way between the first voltage potential and the second voltage potential. This ensures that (for random data at least), the overall current consumed is reduced.
Further in a preferred approach for this aspect of the invention, the NDR FET is a pull-up element in the memory cell, and the bias signal is also applied to a second NDR FET acting as a pull-down element of the memory cell.
In yet another aspect of the invention, an “erase before write” operation is performed for a memory cell, including an SRAM, by adjusting a bias signal to the pull-down and pull-up elements. This then effectively erases the cell by placing the storage node in an indeterminate state. To do this, the bias signal is set to a first amplitude, and then to a second amplitude that is less than the first amplitude during the erase step. After the new data is written to the cell the bias signal is restored from the second amplitude back to the first amplitude. To control the cell in this fashion a bias control signal is generated, in response to initiation of a write operation, to control signal characteristics of the bias signal, including an amplitude of such signal.
Other aspects of the invention concern operations which enhance characteristics of active elements for a memory cell, including characteristics of read operations performed for an NDR based memory cell.
In a first aspect, an NDR based memory cell operates by applying a bias signal to the NDR-capable element, during a first operation period in which the memory cell is storing a data value, to enable the NDR-capable element to operate with an NDR characteristic. The NDR characteristic is adjusted to facilitate storing of the data value in the memory cell during a first storage operation. During a second operation period the bias signal is adjusted so as to enhance the NDR characteristic and a current drive characteristic of the NDR-capable element immediately prior to and/or during a second operation associated with the memory cell.
In this fashion, additional current can be provided to improve a read speed for the memory cell. In a preferred approach, the NDR-capable element includes an NDR field effect transistor (NDR FET). During the read operation, the bias signal is adjusted to have an amplitude that is larger than that used during quiescent storage mode. This allows an NDR memory cell to be viable in a multi-megabit memory array, since a ratio of a quiescent current produced by the memory cell to a read operation current (PVR) produced by the memory cell can exceed 10,000. Other techniques for accelerating a read speed, such as precharging a BIT line coupled to the memory cell, can also be employed.
Another aspect of the invention concerns adjusting the NDR behavior of a memory cell during a read operation, analogous to that explained above for a write operation—except that for a read operation the NDR behavior is enhanced rather than impaired.
These and other aspects of the invention are now described in detail with reference to the figures provided herein.
Various embodiments of the invention are now described.
As noted earlier,
NDR elements 120, 130 of the present invention are preferably an NDR FET of the type referred to above in the aforementioned King et al. applications. The details of the same are provided for example in the aforementioned applications, and such documents are incorporated by reference herein primarily for the purpose of providing non-essential background information on representative types of environments in which the present inventions can be practiced. Other types of silicon based NDR FETs are clearly suitable and encompassed within the present teachings, particularly to the extent their PVR performance can be enhanced through intelligent biasing as noted below.
Enhanced Write Operation
A preferred method for writing to an NDR based SRAM cell is now described. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention could be used with other memory devices (aside from SRAMs of the type shown in the aforementioned Ser. No. 10/029,077), including for example those that utilize active elements having NDR characteristics.
In brief, to improve write access time, the NDR element (a metal oxide semiconductor transistor—referred to as MOST herein, which is a type of field effect transistor (FET)) gate bias voltage(s) are pulsed low to lower the peak current of both NDR MOST transistors just prior to programming (word line pulsed high). The gate bias voltage(s) would return to the “normal” high-voltage state just after the word line voltage reaches the high voltage state.
Viewed from an operational perspective, memory device 100 may be effectively considered erased and set to a third logical state that is intermediate or between two extreme possible states (i.e., a high voltage potential or a low voltage potential present on the storage node). This state can also be characterized as indeterminate (in the sense that the ultimate ending state is uncertain or unpredictable depending on the amount of time reserved for such operation), but which is nonetheless “easier” (and faster) to write to, instead of having it start off as a logical 0 state or logical 1 state. In a preferred approach, storage node VSN is set to a voltage potential that is about half-way between VDD and Ground (or VSS) as seen in
This operation is described in detail with reference to
At time t3, a write signal is applied to transfer FET 110, and a new data value is written (programmed) into memory cell 100 through the BIT line in any conventional fashion during a write mode or write operation for the cell. Since both NDR FETs are essentially disabled, they do not materially affect the write speed of a particular data value (0 or 1) into node VSN during a write time tw (which lasts until t7). At time t4, the write bias control signal goes low, and thus at time t5 the respective bias signals to the two NDR FETs begin to be restored to their original state, so that at time t6 the two NDR FETs again contribute to the maintenance (latching) of the data value as written into the memory device (i.e., during a later storage mode) through their respective NDR characteristics.
It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the timing as shown in
Moreover, the diagram is not intended to be to scale, so the initiation, slew rate, amplitude and duration of the signals shown can be varied without departing from the spirit of the present invention. The various circuits required to implement the timing of
Thus, from this description it can be seen that both NDR FETs originally in a storage operating mode are essentially weakened (or completely disabled) just prior to the programming operation (or write mode) to reduce/eliminate any contribution to the write operation. The NDR FETs are turned on again before the write operation is finished so that they then “latch” the stored data at node SN by their NDR behavior as noted in the aforementioned application Ser. No. 10/029,077. This process has the additional benefit that overall power consumption is also reduced for write operations as compared to prior techniques.
Looked at from another perspective, the present invention can be thought of as temporarily disabling an otherwise advantageous NDR behavior during certain operational time periods for a memory cell, such as during selected portions of a write process. It is conceivable that it may be also desirable to disable such NDR behavior during other times (power up, reset, test) for the memory cell, or in other circuits during their normal operations; such are clearly contemplated by the present teachings. Finally, other general memory cells/devices (not including NDR elements) may benefit from selective enabling/disabling of pull-up and pull-down elements contained therein to enhance a write operation.
It will be understood, of course, that, at least for a write process, it may not be necessary to completely disable such devices prior to such operation, and the overall write process may be improved significantly even by biasing techniques that merely impair or reduce the participation of the NDR FETs during selected portions (or all) of a write operation.
This write enhancement of the present invention is extremely useful because typically with reference to
It should be noted that in some instances this type of write “enhancement” will not be necessary or desirable. For example, in cases where the overall write time (as shown in
Read Operation Enhancement
In a similar fashion, a further related aspect of the invention pertains to a preferred method for reading an NDR based SRAM cell, such as the type discussed above. Again, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention could be used with other memory devices (aside from SRAM), including those that utilize active elements having NDR characteristics.
In summary, to improve read access time during a read mode, the NDR FET gate bias voltage(s) are pulsed to a higher-than-“normal”, voltage just before the word line is pulsed high. The resulting higher peak current charges the bit line faster, for faster read access time. After the read operation is completed, the gate bias voltages are then returned to the “normal” high-voltage state just after the word line returns to the low-voltage state to ensure proper maintenance of the data value during a subsequent storage mode.
Viewed from another perspective, it can be seen that in contrast to the write enhancement operation described earlier, the NDR FETs in the read enhancement method of the present invention have their peak current (and to some extent their NDR behavior) effectively “enhanced” rather then reduced (or disabled) during a read mode. In this manner, the overall peak-to-valley ratio (PVR) of a memory cell using NDR devices can be enhanced by such technique. In other words, the peak current of the memory cell is increased without a corresponding increase in the valley current, because the “boost” to the current is performed only during portions (or all of) a read operation. Furthermore, the NDR FETs of the present invention are characterized by the fact that a peak current increases with increasing applied gate voltage (i.e., in a non-NDR operating region) but the valley current does not increase as quickly with increasing applied gate voltage. Thus, the PVR improves generally as a function of a gate drive applied to NDR FETs 120 and 130, and this aspect can be exploited in SRAM embodiments through dynamically varying the gate bias signals as explained herein. By this same principle, therefore, the PVR for any particular embodiment, such as for a low power embodiment, can also be improved by reducing gate bias signals to NDR FETs 120, 130 to reduce a valley current, just as they were raised during a sense or read mode to increase a peak current. Furthermore, unlike many other prior art devices, by using NDR FETs in an SRAM cell, the PVR is substantially more constant over temperature, and this is yet another benefit of using such technology.
The preferred reading method is described in detail with reference to
Because NDR FETS provide a drive current proportional to their gate voltage, it is possible to boost Vbias1 and Vbias2 by a controlled amount which also increases the NDR behavior of such FETs. Accordingly, this read operation can be accomplished in a very short period of time. At time t3, a read signal is applied to transfer FET 140, and a data value stored in memory cell 100 is read through the bit line.
Note that to improve operational speed for higher speed applications, the bit line can be precharged to a value midway a logical 0 and logical 1 state (typically, Vdd/2) so that it is either pulled high or low more quickly than if it were starting from a fixed potential that is high or low. In addition, a reference cell (not shown) can be used to allow differential sensing against a sensed cell in a manner akin to that of conventional memory cells and differential sense amplifiers. Other techniques for increasing read time performance will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
Since both NDR FETs are essentially enhanced during parts or all of a read mode or read operation, they help to provide an additional drive current during the reading of a particular data value (0 or 1) in node VSN during a read time tR (which lasts until t4). At time t5, the read bias control (NDR enhancement) signal goes low again, so that the two NDR FET bias signals are returned to their normal operating value beginning at time t6 and finishing at time t7. Thereafter they again contribute to the maintenance (latching) of the data value as stored into the memory device through their NDR characteristics.
Because there is no adverse effect from enhancing the NDR behavior during the read process, it is not necessary to return the NDR FETs to their normal operating bias prior to completion of the read operation. Nonetheless, this could be done if desired by appropriate adjustment of the bias control signal.
One consequence of using two NDR FETs is that the overall read (or sensing) speed of cell 100 is not limited or tied to an NDR switching speed of an NDR element (i.e., between an NDR region and a non-NDR region). This is advantageous for scaling purposes as well.
As with
Moreover, the diagram of
Looked at from another perspective, this facet of the present invention can be thought of as temporarily enhancing an NDR behavior during certain operational time periods for a memory cell, such as during a read process. It is conceivable that it may be also desirable to boost such NDR behavior during other times (power up, reset, test) for the memory cell, or in other circuits during their normal operations; such are clearly contemplated by the present teachings. Finally, as noted earlier for the write enhancement method of the present invention, other general memory cells/devices (not including NDR elements) may benefit from selective enabling/disabling of pull-up and pull-down elements contained therein during read operations.
Thus, both a write operation and a read operation can be controlled and enhanced by suitable scaling/adjustment of the bias signals provided to the NDR FETs of an NDR SRAM cells. The bias signals thus operated effectuate a type of a read control signal and write control signal for such types of memory devices.
Finally it is apparent, of course, that memory devices operating in accordance herein may utilize one or both of the read/write enhancements disclosed depending on the intended application, manufacturing limitations and required performance characteristics.
While the invention has been described with reference to illustrative embodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. It will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that foregoing description is merely by way of example and is not a limitation on the scope of the invention, which may be utilized in many types of integrated circuits made with conventional processing technologies. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description. Such modifications and combinations, of course, may use other features that are already known in lieu of or in addition to what is disclosed herein. It is therefore intended that the appended claims encompass any such modifications or embodiments. While such claims have been formulated based on the particular embodiments described herein, it should be apparent the scope of the disclosure herein also applies to any novel and non-obvious feature (or combination thereof) disclosed explicitly or implicitly to one of skill in the art, regardless of whether such relates to the claims as provided below, and whether or not it solves and/or mitigates all of the same technical problems described above. Finally, the applicant further reserves the right to pursue new and/or additional claims directed to any such novel and non-obvious features during the prosecution of the present application (and/or any related applications).
The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/185,247 filed by Tsu-Jae King on Jun. 28, 2002.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10185247 | Jun 2002 | US |
| Child | 11010132 | Dec 2004 | US |
