Patent · US Active

Structures and methods of trimming threshold voltage of a flash EEPROM memory

US7957188B2 · kind B2 · utility

0Cited by
4References
33Claims
0Family size

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Key dates

Filing dateNov 5, 2009
Grant dateJun 7, 2011
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 16, 2030

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C16/3404
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method of trimming FET NVM cells in Multi-Level-Cell (MLC) operation is provided. The method comprises (a) applying a first voltage and a second voltage to a control gate and a bulk of the over-programmed FET NVM cell, respectively; and (b) applying a signal to a drain of the over-programmed FET NVM cell for a time period to produce a limited threshold voltage reduction; wherein polarities of the first voltage and the second voltage are opposite to that of the signal. Thus, the charge placement in the storing material could be precisely controlled within a small range of charge state and produce a multi-bits/cell of higher digital storage density.

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