Programmable write word line boost for low voltage memory operation

US10366734B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Alexander W. Schaefer · Austin, US
• Ravi Jotwani · Austin, US
• Samiul Haque Khan · Austin, US
• David Hugh McIntyre · Boise, US
• Stephen V. Kosonocky · Fort Collins, US
• John Wuu · Fort Collins, US
• Russell Schreiber · Austin, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 3, 2017
• Grant date: Jul 30, 2019
• Expiry date: Feb 3, 2037

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G11C11/419
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A system and method for efficient power, performance and stability tradeoffs of memory accesses under a variety of conditions are described. A system management unit in a computing system interfaces with a memory and a processing unit, and uses boosting of word line voltage levels in the memory to assist write operations. The computing system supports selecting one of multiple word line boost values, each with an associated cross-over region. A cross-over region is a range of operating voltages for the memory used for determining whether to enable or disable boosting of word line voltage levels in the memory. The system management unit selects between enabling and disabling the boosting of word line voltage levels based on a target operational voltage for the memory and the cross-over region prior to updating the operating parameters of the memory to include the target operational voltage.