Patent · US Expired

Nonvolatile PMOS two transistor memory cell and array

US5912842A · kind A · utility

51Cited by
2References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 9, 1997
Grant dateJun 15, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 9, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH10D30/685
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A nonvolatile memory array is disclosed which includes a plurality of PMOS two-transistor (2T) memory cells. Each 2T cell includes a PMOS floating gate transistor and a PMOS select transistor and is connected between a bit line and a common source line. The select gate and the control gate of each 2T cell in a common row are connected to a word line and to a control gate line, respectively. The 2T cells of the array are programmed using a combination of FN tunneling and BTBT induced hot electron injection, and are erased using FN tunneling. In some embodiments, the array is divided into sectors, where each sector is defined by an n- well region and includes a predetermined number of rows of the 2T cells. Here, the source of each 2T cell in a sector is coupled to a common source line of the sector. In other embodiments, the bit lines of the array are segmented along sector boundaries.

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