Patent · US Expired

Semiconductor integrated circuit and data processing system

US6134148A · kind A · utility

52Cited by
2References
14Claims
0Family size

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Key dates

Filing dateAug 20, 1999
Grant dateOct 17, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 20, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C2211/5642
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A control of a flash memory includes control for supplying a pulse-shaped voltage to each of non-volatile memory cells until a threshold voltage of the non-volatile memory cell having a first threshold voltage is changed to a second threshold voltage. The control involves a first write mode (coarse write) in which the amount of change in threshold voltage of each non-volatile memory cell, which is varied each time the pulse-shaped voltage is applied, is relatively rendered high, and a second write mode (high-accuracy write) in which the amount of change in threshold voltage thereof is relatively rendered low. As compared with the high-accuracy mode, the number of pulses required to change the threshold voltage of each memory cell is smaller than that in the coarse write mode. Therefore, the number of verify operations at the time that the coarse write mode is used, is small and hence the entire write operation can be speeded up.

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