Method and system for reliable and secure memory erase
AssigneeMicrochip Technology Incorporated
InventorAjay Kumar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A memory device has a switch matrix with a power supply input, a control input and a power supply output, a random access memory with a power supply connection coupled with the power supply output of the switch matrix. The switch matrix has a capacitor being chargeable by a power supply and upon receiving a control signal through the control input, the switch matrix is designed to decouple the capacitor from the power supply and the random access memory and to couple the capacitor through the power supply output with the random access memory in reverse polarity thereby providing a negative power supply to the power supply output.
Claims23
A memory device, comprising:
- a switch matrix comprising a power supply input, a control input and a power supply output,
- a random access memory having a power supply connection coupled with the power supply output of the switch matrix,
- wherein the switch matrix comprises a capacitor being chargeable by a power supply coupled to the power supply input and wherein upon receiving a control signal through the control input, the switch matrix is designed to decouple the capacitor from the power supply input and the power supply output and to couple the capacitor through the power supply output with the random access memory in reverse polarity.
A method for operating a memory device, comprising:
- supplying a random access memory with a supply voltage via a switch matrix, wherein the switch matrix comprises a power supply input, a power supply output and a capacitor being charged by the supply voltage;
- receiving a control signal indicating to erase the memory, and
- upon receipt of the control signal to erase the memory, decoupling the capacitor from the power supply and the random access memory through the switch matrix and thereafter coupling the capacitor with the power supply output in reverse polarity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.