Apparatuses and methods for transistor protection by charge sharing
AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorsYafeng Zhang, Liang Qiao, Chunyuan Hou, Jun Xu
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Abstract
Apparatuses and methods for protecting transistors through charge sharing are disclosed herein. An example apparatus includes a transistor comprising a gate node and a bulk node, a charge sharing circuit coupled between the gate and bulk nodes, and logic. The charge sharing circuit is configure to equalize charge differences between the gate and bulk nodes, and the logic is configured to enable the charge sharing circuit based at least in part on a combination of first and second signals, which indicate the presence of a condition.
Claims17
A method, comprising:
- monitoring, by logic, for occurrence of a condition;
- and
- based on the occurrence of the condition, coupling a gate node and a bulk node of a transistor and de-coupling the gate node and the bulk node from first and second voltages, respectively;
- and
- responsive to the occurrence of the condition, providing a plurality of control signals to a charge sharing circuit, wherein the plurality of control signals comprise a power down signal and an erase operation signal, wherein monitoring, by the logic, for the occurrence of the condition comprises:
- combining the power down signal and the erase operation signal to provide an output signal;
- and
- providing the output signal to the logic for output of a control signal of the plurality of control signals.
A method, comprising:
- receiving a plurality of signals, the plurality of signals indicative of an operation being performed on a memory;
- monitoring the plurality of signals for an occurrence of a condition;
- and
- responsive to the occurrence of the condition, providing a plurality of control signals to a charge sharing circuit, wherein the plurality of control signals comprise a power down signal and an erase operation signal, wherein monitoring the plurality of signals for the occurrence of the condition comprises:
- combining the power down signal and the erase operation signal to provide an output signal;
- and
- providing the output signal to control logic for output of a control signal of the plurality of control signals.
A method, comprising:
- receiving a plurality of signals indicative of an operational mode;
- detecting an occurrence of a condition based on the plurality of signals;
- responsive to the occurrence of the condition, providing at least one control signal of a plurality of control signals to a charge sharing circuit based at least on the occurrence of the condition detected, wherein the plurality of control signals comprise a power down signal and an erase operation signal, wherein detecting the occurrence of the condition based on the plurality of signals comprises:
- combining the power down signal and the erase operation signal to provide an output signal;
- and
- providing the output signal to control logic for output of a control signal of the plurality of control signals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.