Patent · US Expired

Semiconductor memory device

US6807101B2 · kind B2 · utility

89Cited by
2References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 23, 2002
Grant dateOct 19, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 23, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C16/28
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A plurality of sense amplifiers are connected to a selected bit line. Each sense amplifier is supplied with a residual current corresponding to a current flowing in a memory cell and a reference current serving as a reference for a threshold voltage of the memory cell to sense the currents. Operations of the sense amplifiers are controlled such that different sense margins are provided to different sense amplifiers and a margin failure is detected according to coincidence/non-coincidence in logical level between output signals of the sense amplifiers. The address of a memory cell with the margin failure is registered. With such a construction, a threshold voltage defect of a non-volatile memory cell is compensated for to enable internal reading of memory cell data with correctness.

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