Patent · US Active

Method and apparatus for varying the programming duration and/or voltage of an electrically floating body transistor, and memory cell array implementing same

US7436706B2 · kind B2 · utility

3Cited by
4References
24Claims
0Family size

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 31, 2006
Grant dateOct 14, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 27, 2027

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C2211/4068
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

There are many inventions described herein as well as many aspects and embodiments of those inventions, for example, circuitry and techniques for reading, writing and/or operating a semiconductor memory cells of a memory cell array, including electrically floating body transistors in which an electrical charge is stored in the body of the transistor. In one aspect, the present inventions are directed to one or more independently controllable parameters of a memory operation (for example, restore, write, refresh), to program or write a data state into a memory cell. In one embodiment, the parameter is the amount of time of programming or writing a predetermined data state into a memory cell. In another embodiment, the controllable parameter is the amplitude of the voltage of the control signals applied to the gate, drain region and/or source region during programming or writing a predetermined data state into a memory cell. Indeed, the controllable parameters may be both temporal and voltage amplitude. Notably, the memory cell array may comprise a portion of an integrated circuit device, for example, logic device (for example, a microprocessor) or a portion of a memory device (for e…

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