US 4,039,861 AGranted

Cross-coupled charge transfer sense amplifier circuits

AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation

InventorsLawrence Griffith Heller, Dominic Patrick Spampinato

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Abstract

Sense amplifiers employing charge-transfer techniques and cross-coupled devices for use with memory cell arrays or as comparators, polarity sensors and differential amplifiers are described which include a unique preamplifier circuit having cross-coupled actuable devices and which provides a cross-coupled charge-transfer feature. The sense amplifier also includes actuable devices which provide further amplification. The preamplifier circuit includes two precharge actuable devices which have their gate electrode connected to the phase 1 line and which have their source electrode connected through separate capacitors to the phase 2 line. The terminals of the two preamplifier charge-transfer devices which are cross-coupled are also connected at the aforesaid circuit nodes and to the bit/sense lines and to the further amplification devices. The disclosure describes two embodiments of a preamplifier circuit, each of which is shown in combination with a plurality of different further amplification circuits.

A preamplifier for signal detection comprising

first and second charge-transfer actuable devices each having first and second current carrying electrodes and a control electrode, said first current carrying electrodes of said first and second actuable devices being coupled respectively to first and second sources of input signals to be detected,
means for coupling said second electrode of said first actuable device to said control electrode of said second actuable device at a first node,
means for coupling said second electrode of said second actuable device to said control electrode of said first actuable device at a second node,
a first capacitor connected to said second electrode of said second actuable device at said second node and to said control electrode of said first actuable device,
a second capacitor connected to said second electrode of said first actuable device at said first node and to said control electrode of said second actuable device,
means for applying a precharge voltage at a first time period onto said first and second nodes causing said first and second charge-transfer actuable devices to turn on whereby said input signal electrodes charge up to predetermined values,
said input signals to be detected from said first and second sources being applied to said first current carrying electrodes of said first and second charge-transfer actuable devices after said precharge voltage time period for relatively decreasing the signal on one of said first current carrying electrode and producing a relative increase of the signal on said control electrode of said one of said first and second charge-transfer actuable devices,
and means for applying a ramp signal through said first and second capacitors to said second current carrying electrodes of said first and second charge-transfer actuable devices for causing said one of said first and second charge-transfer actuable devices to turn on relatively greater than the other and transfer relatively more charge from one of said first and second nodes to said input signal applying means wherein said relative amount of transferred charge is potentially greater in magnitude than charge obtained from said applied input signals thereby providing charge gain and voltage gain.

5 more elements

Facts

Application

05/656,677Filed 9 Feb 1976

Granted

2 Aug 1977

Term ends

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Classification7 codes

H03K 3/356078
Using additional transistors in the feedback circuit: with synchronous operation
G11C 7/065
Sense amplifiers; Associated circuits , e.g. timing or triggering circuits: differential amplifiers of latching type
G11C 11/404
With charge regeneration common to a multiplicity of memory cells, i.e. external refresh: with one charge-transfer gate, e.g. MOS transistor, per cell
G11C 11/4091
Read-write [R-W] circuits: sense or sense/refresh amplifiers, or associated sense circuitry, e.g. for coupled bit-line precharging, equalising or…

Abstract

Claims10