Patent · US Expired

Method and system for generation and distribution of supply voltages in memory systems

US6434044B1 · kind B1 · utility

42Cited by
13References
43Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 16, 2001
Grant dateAug 13, 2002
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 16, 2021

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C5/14
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Techniques for producing and supplying various voltage levels within a memory system having multiple memory blocks (e.g., memory chips) are described. The various voltage levels can be produced by voltage generation circuitry (e.g., charge pump and/or regulator circuitry) within the memory system. The various voltage levels can be supplied to the multiple memory blocks through a power bus. According to one aspect, charge pump and/or regulator circuits are provided within at most one of the memory blocks of a memory system (unless back-ups are provided for fault tolerance), and a power bus is used to distribute the generated voltage levels to other of the memory blocks. According to another aspect, a memory controller generates multiple supply voltage levels that are distributed (e.g., via a power bus) to each of the memory blocks.

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