Patent · US Expired

Ferroelectric non-volatile memory unit

US5523964A · kind A · utility

71Cited by
9References
21Claims
0Family size

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Key dates

Filing dateApr 7, 1994
Grant dateJun 4, 1996
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 7, 2014

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C11/223
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An integrated circuit non-volatile, non-destructive read-out memory unit includes a ferroelectric capacitor having first and second electrodes, a capacitance Cf, and an area Af, and a transistor having a gate, a source and a drain forming a gate capacitor having an area Ag and a gate capacitance Cg, a gate overlap b, and a channel depth a, with the capacitor first electrode connected to the gate of the transistor. The ferroelectric material has a dielectric constant .epsilon.f and the gate insulator has a dielectric constant .epsilon.g. A source of a constant reference voltage is connectable to the first electrode. A bit line connects to the second electrode. In one embodiment the first electrode and gate are the same conductive member. In another embodiment the second electrode and the gate are the same conductive member and the first electrode is formed by extensions of the transistor source and drains underlying the gate, with the ferroelectric material between the source and drain extensions and the gate. The memory unit has the parametric relationships: Cf<5.times.Cg, Af.ltoreq.2Ag, b.gtoreq.2a, and .epsilon.g.gtoreq..epsilon.f/8.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.