Methods for determining resistance of phase change memory elements
AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorsJennifer Taylor, John D. Porter
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Abstract
Methods for measuring the resistance of multiple memory elements are disclosed. The memory elements may be multi-bit memory and through precise measurement of resistance of the multi-bit memory elements, determination of how many and which memory elements fall into specific memory ranges can be accomplished. Furthermore, storage and/or display of this information may allow for the creation of resistance distribution histograms for modeling of one or more memory arrays.
Claims19
A method for determining resistance of a phase change memory element comprising:
- monitoring charging and discharging time of a capacitance coupled to the memory element;
- converting the charging and discharging time of the capacitance to a pulse stream;
- determining a resistance of the memory element based on the pulse stream;
- and
- storing the determined resistance of the memory element to generate one or more resistance ranges.
The method of claim 3, wherein determining the resistance of the memory element is calculated according to the proportionality of an inverse of a pulse counter output.
A method for determining resistance distributions of a phase change memory array comprising:
- monitoring charging and discharging time of a capacitance coupled to a first memory element in the phase change memory array;
- converting the charging and discharging time of the capacitance to a first pulse stream;
- selecting a second memory element from the phase change memory array coupled to the capacitance;
- monitoring charging and discharging time of the capacitance coupled to the second memory element in the phase change memory array;
- converting the charging and discharging time of the capacitance to a second pulse stream;
- determining a resistance value for the first and the second memory elements based on the first and second pulse streams;
- and
- storing the resistance values for each of the first and the second memory elements to generate one or more resistance ranges.
A method for determining resistance of a phase change memory element comprising:
- digitizing an analog signal from a memory element using a quantizing circuit;
- producing a pulse stream from the digitized analog signal using a counter;
- determining a resistance of the memory element based on the pulse stream;
- and
- storing the determined resistance of the memory element in an accumulator to generate one or more resistance ranges.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.