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US 2004/0001378 A1Published application
Methods and apparatus for memory sensing
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsSudhir K. Madan, Hugh McAdams
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for reading data from memory cells such as a ferroelectric memory cell in a memory device, where one sense amp bitline is coupled with a precharge voltage while another sense amp bitline is coupled with the memory cell.
Claims29
A memory device, comprising:
- a memory cell coupled to one of first and second data bitlines during a read operation;
- a reference coupled to another of the first and second data bitlines during the read operation;
- a sense amp circuit comprising first and second sense amp bitlines coupleable to the first and second data bitlines, respectively, during the read operation, the sense amp circuit being operable to sense a differential voltage across the first and second sense amp bitlines;
- and
- a precharge circuit coupled to the sense amp circuit, the precharge circuit comprising:
- a first switching component operable to selectively couple the first sense amp bitline to a precharge voltage during the read operation;
- and
- a second switching component operable to selectively couple the second sense amp bitline to the precharge voltage during the read operation;
- wherein the precharge circuit is operable to decouple one of the first and second sense amp bitlines from the precharge voltage after decoupling another of the first and second sense amp bitlines from the precharge voltage during the read operation.
6 more elements
A memory device, comprising:
- a memory cell coupled to one of first and second data bitlines during a read operation;
- a reference coupled to another of the first and second data bitlines during the read operation;
- a sense amp circuit comprising first and second sense amp bitlines coupleable to the first and second data bitlines, respectively, during the read operation, the sense amp circuit being operable to sense a differential voltage across the first and second sense amp bitlines;
- and
- a precharge circuit coupled to the sense amp circuit and operable to couple one of the sense amp bitlines to a precharge voltage after coupling of the other sense amp bitline to the memory cell and before coupling of the one of the sense amp bitlines to the reference during a read operation.
2 more elements
A method of sensing data from a memory cell in a memory device, the method comprising:
- coupling a first sense amp bitline to the memory cell while a second sense amp bitline is coupled to a precharge voltage;
- and
- thereafter decoupling the second sense amp terminal and coupling the second sense amp bitline with a reference.
A method of sensing data from a memory cell in a memory device, the method comprising:
- coupling a first sense amp bitline with the memory cell;
- discharging induced voltage from a second sense amp bitline after coupling the first sense amp bitline with the memory cell;
- and
- coupling the second sense amp bitline with a reference after discharging the induced voltage therefrom.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.