Patent · US Expired

Memory cell comprising an OTP nonvolatile memory unit and a SRAM unit

US7277348B2 · kind B2 · utility

8Cited by
2References
24Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 17, 2006
Grant dateOct 2, 2007
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 17, 2026

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C2216/26
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Memory cells including an SRAM and an OTP memory unit that combine the advantages of both technologies and can be fabricated by standard CMOS manufacturing without additional masking. The concepts and details may be applied to and utilized in other systems requiring memory and/or employing other fabrication technologies. Among other advantages, the SRAM part of memory cells allows countless programming of the cell, which is useful, for example, during the prototyping. The OTP part is utilized to permanently program the memory cell by either using external data or the data already existing in the SRAM part of the cell. The value held by the OTP unit may also be written directly into the SRAM part of the cell.

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