Low-power, high-accuracy current reference for highly distributed current references for cross point memory

A current reference source, comprising:

• a first current source to generate a first current, the first current source including a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal capable to be coupled to a first power supply voltage;
• and
• a converter to generate a first voltage signal based on a magnitude of the first current, the converter including:
• a first active device including a first terminal, a second terminal and a third terminal, the first terminal coupled with the second terminal of the first active device and coupled with the second terminal of the first current source;
• a first degeneration-resistance device including a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal of the first degeneration-resistance device coupled with the first active device, and the second terminal of the first degeneration-resistance device capable to be coupled to a second power supply voltage;
• and
• a first buffer including an input and an output, the input of the first buffer coupled with the first active device, the first voltage signal to be output via the output of the first buffer.

A method to generate a reference current, comprising:

• generating a first current using a first power supply;
• generating a first voltage signal based on a magnitude of the first current;
• generating a second current using the first power supply;
• generating a second voltage signal based on a magnitude of the second current;
• sampling and holding the first voltage signal and the second voltage signal;
• and
• outputting the held first voltage signal and the held second voltage signal to a remotely located tile current device.

A distributed current reference system comprising:

• multiple tile reference current generators;
• and
• a current reference source remotely located to one or more of the multiple tile reference current generators, the current reference source including:
• a first current source to generate a first current, the first current source including a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal capable to be coupled to a first power supply voltage;
• and
• a converter to generate a first voltage signal based on a magnitude of the first current, the converter including:
• a first active device including a first terminal, a second terminal and a third terminal, the first terminal coupled with the second terminal of the first active device and coupled with the second terminal of the first current source;
• a first degeneration-resistance device including a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal of the first degeneration-resistance device coupled with the first active device, and the second terminal of the first degeneration-resistance device capable to be coupled to a second power supply voltage;
• and
• a first buffer including an input and an output, the input of the first buffer coupled with the first active device the first voltage signal output via the output of the first buffer and received by each of the multiple tile reference generators.