# US 11,443,827 B2 · Memory device and method for error detection

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- Number: US 11,443,827 B2
- Document ID: US11443827B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/148,535
- Filed: 2021-01-13
- Published: 2022-07-14
- Granted: 2022-09-13
- Earliest claimed: 2021-01-13
- Assignees: Winbond Electronics Corp.
- Applicants: Winbond Electronics Corp.
- Inventors: Minho Yoon
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11443827B2

## CPC

- G11C 29/42: using error correcting codes [ECC] or parity check
- G11C 7/1048: {Data bus control circuits, e.g. precharging, presetting, equalising}
- G11C 29/44: Indication or identification of errors, e.g. for repair
- H03K 19/21: EXCLUSIVE-OR circuits, i.e. giving output if input signal exists at only one input; COINCIDENCE circuits, i.e. giving output only if all input signals are identical
- G11C 7/1006: {Data managing, e.g. manipulating data before writing or reading out, data bus switches or control circuits therefor}
- G11C: STATIC STORES (semiconductor memory devices H10B)
- H03K: PULSE TECHNIQUE (measuring pulse characteristics G01R; modulating sinusoidal oscillations with pulses H03C; transmission of digital information H04L; discriminator circuits detecting phase difference between two signals by counting or integrating cycles of oscillation H03D3/04; automatic control, starting, synchronisation or stabilisation of generators of electronic oscillations or pulses where the type of generator is irrelevant or unspecified H03L; coding, decoding or code conversion, in general H03M)

## Abstract

A memory device includes a syndrome generating circuit and a plurality of latch circuits. The syndrome generating circuit includes a plurality of input terminals and plurality of logic circuits. The latch circuits are coupled to the syndrome generating circuit and are configured to set the input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit to a predetermined logic state according to a pre-charge reset signal. The latch circuits are configured to provide a plurality of data bits to the input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit after the input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit are set to the predetermined logic state. The syndrome generating circuit is configured to generate a syndrome bit based on the data bits by the logic circuits, wherein the syndrome bit indicates a presence of an error bit among the data bits.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of detecting an error bit in a memory device, comprising:
setting a plurality of input terminals of a syndrome generating circuit to a predetermined logic state according to a pre-charge reset signal;
providing a plurality of data bits to the plurality of input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit after the plurality of input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit are set to the predetermined logic state; and
generating a syndrome bit based on the plurality of data bits by a plurality of logic circuits of the syndrome generating circuit, wherein the syndrome bit indicates a presence of an error bit among the plurality of data bits,
wherein setting the plurality of input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit to the predetermined logic state according to the pre-charge reset signal comprising:
providing a plurality of latch circuits coupled to the plurality of input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit, each of the plurality of latch circuits comprising a first logic circuit, a second logic circuit, a third logic circuit, and a fourth logic circuit, an output of the first logic circuit coupled to an input of the second logic circuit, an output of the third logic circuit coupled to an input of the fourth logic circuit via a node, an output of the second logic circuit coupled to the node;
performing a first logic operation to the pre-charge reset signal and the signal on the node by the first logic circuit to generate a first intermediate bit;
enabling the second logic circuit to perform a second logic operation to the first intermediate bit to generate a second intermediate bit when an inverse latch clock signal is in a high logic state;
enabling the third logic circuit to perform a third logic operation to one of the plurality of data bits for outputting a third intermediate bit to the node when a latch clock signal is in the high logic state; and
performing a fourth logic operation to the signal on the node to set one of the plurality of input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit to the predetermined logic state and to provide one of the plurality of data bits to one of the plurality of input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein
each of the plurality of data bits has a low logic state or a high logic state, and
the predetermined logic state is the high logic state.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein generating the syndrome bit based on the plurality of data bits comprises:
inputting, by each of the plurality of logic circuits, a first data bit and a second data bit among the plurality of data bits;
performing, by each of the plurality of logic circuits, a logic operation to the first data bit and the second data bit to generate an output bit; and
generating the syndrome bit based on the output bit of each of the plurality of logic circuits.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of logic circuits are exclusive-OR logic circuits, and the logic operation is an exclusive-OR operation.

### Claim 5 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, wherein
each of the plurality of logic circuits comprises a plurality of transistors which include a first transistor and a second transistor, a gate terminal of the first transistor is coupled to receive the first data bit, and a gate terminal of the second transistor is coupled to receive the second data bit,
one of the first transistor and the second transistor is switched on during the logic operation when the first data bit is different from the second data bit,
the other one of the first transistor and the second transistor is switched off during the logic operation when the first data bit is different from the second data bit, and
a switching speed of the one of the first transistor and the second transistor is faster than a switching switch of the other one of the first transistor and the second transistor.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method claim 5, wherein a size of the one of the first transistor and the second transistor is greater than a size of the other one of the first transistor and the second transistor.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving a write command signal that is configured to enable a write operation to write the data bits to a memory,
wherein the pre-charge reset signal is enabled to pre-charge the plurality of input terminals to the predetermined logic state in response to receiving the write command signal.

### Claim 8

A memory device capable of detecting an error bit, comprising:
a syndrome generating circuit, comprising a plurality of input terminals and a plurality of logic circuits; and
a plurality of latch circuits, coupled to the syndrome generating circuit, configured to set the plurality of input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit to a predetermined logic state according to a pre-charge reset signal, and provide a plurality of data bits to the plurality of input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit after the plurality of input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit are set to the predetermined logic state,
wherein the syndrome generating circuit is configured to generate a syndrome bit based on the plurality of data bits by the plurality of logic circuits, and the syndrome bit indicates a presence of an error bit among the plurality of data bits,
wherein each of the plurality of latch circuits comprises an input terminal, a first logic circuit, a second logic circuit, a third logic circuit, a fourth logic circuit, and an output terminal,
the input terminal of each of the plurality of latch circuits is coupled to receive one of the plurality of data bits,
the output terminal of each of the plurality of latch circuits is coupled to one of the plurality of input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit,
the first logic circuit is configured to perform a first logic operation to a signal on a node between the third logic circuit and the fourth logic circuit and the pre-charge reset signal to generate a first intermediate bit,
the second logic circuit is coupled between the first logic circuit and the node, and is configured to be enabled to perform a second logic operation to the first intermediate bit to generate a second intermediate bit when an inverse latch clock signal is in a high logic state,
the third logic circuit is coupled between the input terminal and the node, and is configured to be enabled to perform a third logic operation to one of the plurality of data bits for outputting a third intermediate bit to the node when a latch clock signal is in the high logic state, and
the fourth logic circuit is coupled between the node and the output terminal, and is configured to perform a fourth logic operation to the signal on the node to set the plurality of input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit to the predetermined logic state and to provide one of the plurality of data bits to one of the plurality of input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The memory device of claim 8, wherein
each of the plurality of data bits has a low logic state or a high logic state, and
the predetermined logic state is the high logic state.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The memory device of claim 9, wherein the plurality of logic circuits are exclusive-OR logic circuits that are configured to performs exclusive-OR operations to the plurality of data bits to generate the syndrome generating bit.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The memory device of claim 10, wherein
each of the plurality of logic circuits comprises a first input terminal that receives a first data bit among the plurality of data bits and a second input terminal that receives a second data bit among the plurality of data bits,
each of the plurality of logic circuits is configured to perform the logic operation to the first data bit and the second data bit to generate an output bit, and
the syndrome bit is generated based on the output bit of each of the plurality of logic circuits.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The memory device of claim 11, wherein
each of the plurality of logic circuits comprises a plurality of transistors which include a first transistor and a second transistor, a gate terminal of the first transistor is coupled to receive the first data bit, and a gate terminal of the second transistor is coupled to receive the second data bit,
one of the first transistor and the second transistor is switched on during the logic operation when the first data bit is different from the second data bit,
the other one of the first transistor and the second transistor is switched off during the logic operation when the first data bit is different from the second data bit, and
a switching speed of the one of the first transistor and the second transistor is faster than the other one of the first transistor and the second transistor.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The memory device of claim 12, wherein a size of the one of the first transistor and the second transistor is greater than a size of the other one of the first transistor and the second transistor.

### Claim 14 (depends on 10)

The memory device of claim 10, wherein
the plurality of logic circuits are arranged in a multi-stage binary-tree structure,
the multi-stage binary structure comprises a plurality of stages that comprises a first stage and a second stage,
the first stage comprises a plurality of first exclusive-OR logic circuits among the plurality of logic circuits,
the second stage comprises a plurality of second exclusive-OR logic circuits among the plurality of logic circuits, and
outputs of the plurality of first exclusive-OR logic circuits in the first stage are coupled to inputs of the plurality of second exclusive-OR logic circuits of the second stage.

### Claim 15 (depends on 8)

The memory device of claim 8, further comprising:
a memory array, configured to store data,
wherein the pre-charge reset signal is enabled to set the plurality of input terminals of the syndrome generating circuit to the predetermined logic state in response to receiving a write command signal that is configured to enable a write operation to write the data bits to the memory array.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The memory device of claim 15, further comprising:
an input/output circuit, coupled to the plurality of latch circuits, configured to provide the data bits to the plurality of latch circuits.