The present invention relates generally to the field of electrically programmable and electrically erasable read-only memories, and more particularly, to a fast-sensing amplifier for a flash memory device.
In recent years, the use of personal computers has grown tremendously in nearly all aspects of society. Personal computers typically comprise a microprocessor chip, random access memory, and non-volatile memory. Non-volatile memory is memory that retains its stored information even when power is no longer supplied to the chip. One type of non-volatile memory is flash memory, which can be both erased and programmed electrically.
In non-volatile complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) read-only flash memories employing floating-gate memory devices, a memory array consisting of a number of these devices is customarily coupled to a common sensing circuit through a column line connecting the drains of the individual memory devices and a word line connecting the gates of the devices in the array, to comprise a memory circuit. Typically a charged column line remains charged if the memory device coupled to it is nonconductive. If coupled to a conductive memory device, the line discharges. The sensing circuit, or amplifier, determines the binary state (conductive or nonconductive) of the memory device based on whether the line is charged or not.
A floating-gate memory device typically requires limiting the maximum potential at the column line to a potential significantly less than the voltage applied to the word line during read, or sense, operations. This minimizes disturbing the data stored on the floating gate of a device during read operations. Usually within a non-volatile flash memory device, the voltage swing on the column line between a high binary state and a low binary state is quite small. This reduction in voltage swing on the capacitive load on the column line of the memory array decreases the access time needed to determine the binary state of a device, but brings about the need for an amplifier circuit to further separate the swing between a low binary state and a high binary state. The amplifier circuit also limits the maximum voltage at the column line during read operations. Although using an amplifier circuit itself adds an amplifying step that increases access time, the net effect still serves to decrease access time as compared to a memory circuit with no amplifier but having a large voltage swing on the large capacitance of the memory column lines. This is because minimizing the voltage swing between a high and low binary state typically reduces read-access time more than the inclusion of an amplifying step increases access time.
In a typical read, or sensing, operation, the column line of the memory array often discharges substantially when coupled to a conductive memory device. Before another read cycle can occur, the line must be recharged. The recharging period retards access time in these memory circuits because of the considerable parasitic capacitance generally associated with the lines. The greater capacitance of longer lines exacerbates this problem in larger memory circuits. A drawback of the prior art is that the capacitance of the reference column effectively doubles the capacitance that needs to be recharged. In some instances, this delays access time over the time needed just to recharge the column line of the selected memory device.
Another drawback to the prior art is the complexity of this read-biasing and amplifying circuit. The large number of transistors in the amplifying circuit, consisting of transistors N1, N2, N3, P1, P2, and P3, lengthens memory read-access time due to the parasitic capacitances of the transistors themselves and the delays they cause. Still another drawback is that isolating the memory array from the biasing circuit before a read operation via transistor N12 further delays read-access time. Moreover, N12 loads the circuit with additional capacitance, which also increases access time.
The present invention provides for a fast and efficient MOS sensing amplifier for sensing the binary state of floating-gate memory devices within a floating gate memory array having a column line selectively coupled to the devices. Prior to sensing, the column line discharges quickly to ground. During a sense operation, a read-biasing and amplifying circuit quickly pulls up the column line to the sense potential at the selected memory device. A differential amplifier compares this sensed potential to a sense-reference potential, providing as output the binary state of the selected memory device.
The above summary of the present invention is not intended to present each embodiment or every aspect of the present invention. This is the purpose of the figures and the associated description that follow.
Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings described below.
While the invention is susceptive to various modifications and alternate forms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the intention is not to limit the invention to the particular embodiment described. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For instance, the present invention has application in connection with non-volatile read-only memory erasable by ultraviolet light and electrically programmable (EPROM) and also electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) chips. In addition, the difference amplifier circuits for sensing the difference between the target memory cell and the reference memory cell may be implemented using various forms of active or passive circuits, and the respective circuits providing the input and output signals may be implemented in a number of modified forms. The preferred circuits depicted in
The difference amplifier separates further the relatively low voltage swing between a binary high state and a binary low state that may be stored in a memory device. The reference memory device will supply at the negative (−) input of the differential amplifier a predetermined sensing-reference voltage upon Vbias going high. The selected memory device within the memory array will supply at the positive input a voltage either slightly lower or slightly higher than the reference voltage, depending on whether the device represents a binary low or binary high state, respectively.
If the memory device represents a binary low state, the voltage it supplies to the positive input of the differential amplifier will be slightly less than the voltage supplied by the reference device to the negative input. The difference between the voltage supplied by the device and the voltage supplied by reference device will be slightly less than zero. The output of the differential amplifier will therefore be low, because the voltage across the positive and negative terminals is not a positive voltage.
If the memory device represents a binary high state, the voltage it supplies to the positive input of the differential amplifier will be slightly greater than the voltage supplied by the reference device to the negative input. The difference between the voltage supplied by the device and the voltage supplied by the reference device will be slightly higher than zero. The output of the differential amplifier will therefore be high, because the voltage across the positive and negative terminals is positive.
The read-biasing and amplifying circuit used is a new and novel approach. The quick-charging transistor for biasing the bit line for sensing is the p-channel transistor, P33. This device operates in the saturated region of operation for quick charging of the bit line and is “off” during sensing. During sensing, transistor P32, which is in the linear region of operation, provides current and acts as the load for the memory cell being sensed. Transistors N31, N32 and P31 form a feedback biasing circuit which limits the bit line voltage during sensing. Limiting the bit line voltage during read operations is required by the floating-gate memory cells to prevent read disturbs. This circuit is an improvement over prior art because the feedback biasing circuit consists of only three transistors, rather than five or more as in prior art, and therefore is faster. Having a fast feedback path is also important in preventing overshoot of the bit line during charging because overshoot can cause additional delays during sensing. Furthermore, the quick-charging device not only charges the bit line node but also provides quick charging of the read-biasing and amplifying circuit's output node, Dout. This again results in a speed improvement over the prior art. Also, with the sensing load operating in the linear, or resistive, region of operation rather than in saturation mode, the voltage differential to the differential amplifier is more linear with memory cell currents. This results in a more equal voltage difference for the same amount of current difference between the reference current and the memory cell stored “one” and “zero” states.
Within the preferred embodiment of the invention, the new and novel biasing circuit acts to quickly pull up the input line to the bias potential needed during the sensing of the data stored on a selected memory device, and to prevent overshoot on this line that would otherwise result from such a fast pull up. The input line Din initially discharges to ground. Afterwards, with transistor P32 serving as a load to the memory device coupled to the input line, transistor P33 acts as a quick-charging device to quickly pull the input line up to the read-bias potential used in reading the selected memory device. The feedback circuit comprised of transistors N31, P31, and N32 prevent the input line from overshooting the read-bias potential on the memory device coupled to the line.
For example, if the selected memory device coupled to the line input Din has no charge on its gate (corresponding to a logic zero), the device will conduct. Transistor P33 will quickly raise the potential at the line until transistor N31 turns on, which in conjunction with transistors P31 and N32 will ensure that the potential at the input line does not rise above Vss plus the threshold voltage of transistor N31. By preventing the input line from rising above this potential, the feedback circuit limits the maximum voltage in the bit lines at the memory cells. Dout will stabilize at a predetermined voltage less than the reference voltage, and will output to the differential amplifier a potential representing binary low.
If on the other hand the selected memory device coupled to the line input Din has a negative charge on its gate (corresponding to a logic one), the device will either be off or will only slightly conduct, at a lesser current level than the reference device. Transistor P33 will quickly pull up the potential at the line until transistor N31 turns on, which in conjunction with transistors P31 and N32 will ensure that the potential at the input line does not rise above Vss plus the threshold voltage of transistor N31. Again, by preventing the input line from rising above this potential, the feedback circuit limits the maximum voltage on the bit lines of the memory cells. Dout will stabilize at a predetermine voltage greater than the reference voltage, and will output to the differential amplifier a potential representing binary high.
In addition to the read-biasing and amplifying circuit, the invention consists of the sensing arrangement described in
The sensing reference is not a reference column in the array, but rather is a single cell. It is biased with a voltage, Vrefbias, which controls the reference current to which the memory cells are compared. A single reference can be used by one or by multiple differential sense amps. In a typical implementation, a plurality of sense amplifiers can share a single reference. Since this results in more loading on the sense reference line, an additional quick-charging transistor, P41, may be added to the sense reference signal.
In this sensing circuit, PCL, a clock pulsed high, pulls the bit lines low prior to sensing, as shown in FIG. 6. For improved performance, the bit lines are not disconnected from the read-biasing and amplifying circuit. This improves performance because the bit lines do not have any additional delay or loading from an isolation device gated by PCL. This does have the disadvantage of drawing current through the read-biasing and amplifying circuit during the time of pulling the bit lines low. However, this current can be controlled by proper sizing of the quick-charging devices. This arrangement has an additional speed advantage resulting from not using the memory cells to discharge the bit lines from the programmed cell read-bias level to the erased cell read-bias level. The additional speed advantage is achieved by bringing the addressed word line high while PCL is discharging the bit lines. Once PCL has gone low, the read-biasing and amplifying circuit will quickly pull the selected bit lines to the read-bias levels. If the memory cell being read is an erased cell, then it will be conducting current and the bit line will not be pulled as high as if the cell is programmed. A programmed cell is either conducting no current or significantly less current than the erased cell. The high-speed sensing comes from the combination of the bit lines being pre-charged low, while the word line being accessed, and the strong pull up and biasing speed of the read-biasing and amplifying circuit.
In other words, the new and novel approach of the invention lies in quickly discharging the bit line to a potential close to ground, and then quickly charging the line back up to the read-bias levels without discharging the line with the selected memory devices. In the preferred embodiment, the bit line Din discharges to ground upon the clock pulse PCL going high. After the bit line goes low, and upon the clock pulse PCL going low, the sensing amplifier quickly pulls the potential of the line to the read-bias potential of the selected memory device. The feedback circuit of the sensing amplifier limits overshoot considerably. If the selected memory device carries no charge on its floating gate (viz., it is an “erased” cell), overshoot never exceeds the predetermined reference voltage. Furthermore, if the selected memory devices carries a negative charge on its floating gate (viz., a “programmed” cell), overshoot is essentially negligible.
The foregoing description, which has been disclosed by way of the above examples and discussion, addresses preferred embodiments of the present invention encompassing the principles of the present invention. The embodiments may be changed, modified, or implemented using various circuit types and arrangements. For example, the difference amplifier circuit for sensing the difference between the target memory cell and the reference memory cell may be implemented using various forms of active or passive circuits, and the respective circuits providing the input and output signals may be implemented in a number of modified forms. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that these and various other modifications and changes may be made to the present invention without strictly following the exemplary embodiments and applications illustrated and described herein, without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention which is set forth in the following claims.
This application is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/642,953, filed Aug. 21, 2000, which is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/136,909, filed Aug. 20, 1998, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,237, which is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/895,618, filed Jul. 17, 1997, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,411, which is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser No. 08/572,852, filed Dec. 14, 1995, abandoned, which is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/387,017, filed Feb. 10, 1995, abandoned. All of these applications are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4223394 | Pathak et al. | Sep 1980 | A |
4250570 | Tsang et al. | Feb 1981 | A |
4389715 | Eaton et al. | Jun 1983 | A |
4459685 | Sud et al. | Jul 1984 | A |
4606052 | Hirzel et al. | Aug 1986 | A |
4654831 | Venkatesh | Mar 1987 | A |
4807191 | Flannagan | Feb 1989 | A |
4881200 | Urai | Nov 1989 | A |
4885720 | Miller et al. | Dec 1989 | A |
4975883 | Baker et al. | Dec 1990 | A |
5053990 | Kreifels et al. | Oct 1991 | A |
5077738 | Larsen et al. | Dec 1991 | A |
5163023 | Ferris et al. | Nov 1992 | A |
5177745 | Rozman | Jan 1993 | A |
5191552 | Nakai et al. | Mar 1993 | A |
5197028 | Nakai | Mar 1993 | A |
5222046 | Kreifels et al. | Jun 1993 | A |
5222076 | Ng et al. | Jun 1993 | A |
5241505 | Hashimoto | Aug 1993 | A |
5253210 | Terada | Oct 1993 | A |
5258958 | Iwahashi et al. | Nov 1993 | A |
5262984 | Noguchi et al. | Nov 1993 | A |
5265054 | McClure | Nov 1993 | A |
5287310 | Schreck et al. | Feb 1994 | A |
5293088 | Kasa | Mar 1994 | A |
5293333 | Hashimoto | Mar 1994 | A |
5293345 | Iwahashi | Mar 1994 | A |
5301149 | Jinbo | Apr 1994 | A |
5305273 | Jinbo | Apr 1994 | A |
5306963 | Leak | Apr 1994 | A |
5307317 | Shiraishi et al. | Apr 1994 | A |
5335198 | Van Buskirk et al. | Aug 1994 | A |
5339272 | Tedrow et al. | Aug 1994 | A |
5343439 | Hoshino | Aug 1994 | A |
5381374 | Shiraishi et al. | Jan 1995 | A |
5386158 | Wang | Jan 1995 | A |
5388078 | Arakawa | Feb 1995 | A |
5414829 | Fandrich et al. | May 1995 | A |
5430859 | Norman et al. | Jul 1995 | A |
5463757 | Fandrich et al. | Oct 1995 | A |
5477499 | VanBuskirk et al. | Dec 1995 | A |
5500810 | Shou et al. | Mar 1996 | A |
5504441 | Sigal | Apr 1996 | A |
5509134 | Fandrich et al. | Apr 1996 | A |
5513333 | Kynett et al. | Apr 1996 | A |
5519652 | Kumakura et al. | May 1996 | A |
5530671 | Hashimoto | Jun 1996 | A |
5530673 | Tobita et al. | Jun 1996 | A |
5530828 | Kaki et al. | Jun 1996 | A |
5544114 | Gaultier et al. | Aug 1996 | A |
5646900 | Tsukude et al. | Jul 1997 | A |
5682485 | Farmer et al. | Oct 1997 | A |
5835411 | Briner | Nov 1998 | A |
6022419 | Torget et al. | Feb 2000 | A |
6137720 | Lancaster | Oct 2000 | A |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
4241327 | Jun 1993 | DE |
0199501 | Oct 1986 | EP |
0377841 | Jul 1990 | EP |
0554053 | Aug 1992 | EP |
559368 | Sep 1993 | EP |
0646394 | Apr 1995 | EP |
2611301 | Aug 1988 | FR |
2007987 | May 1979 | GB |
2215156 | Sep 1989 | GB |
57-163878 | Oct 1982 | JP |
60-224197 | Nov 1985 | JP |
61-292293 | Dec 1986 | JP |
62-22079 | Jan 1987 | JP |
63-313397 | Dec 1988 | JP |
64-88645 | Apr 1989 | JP |
1212018 | Aug 1989 | JP |
01-245499 | Sep 1989 | JP |
2-3834 | Jan 1990 | JP |
2-214945 | Aug 1990 | JP |
02-236471 | Sep 1990 | JP |
02-301100 | Dec 1990 | JP |
03-38730 | Feb 1991 | JP |
03-263696 | Nov 1991 | JP |
04-147496 | May 1992 | JP |
5048410 | Feb 1993 | JP |
05-334201 | Dec 1993 | JP |
6-222948 | Aug 1994 | JP |
06-314952 | Nov 1994 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20030112681 A1 | Jun 2003 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 09642953 | Aug 2000 | US |
Child | 10352419 | US | |
Parent | 09136909 | Aug 1998 | US |
Child | 09642953 | US | |
Parent | 08387017 | Feb 1995 | US |
Child | 08572852 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 08895618 | Jul 1997 | US |
Child | 09136909 | US | |
Parent | 08572852 | Dec 1995 | US |
Child | 08895618 | US |