Self current limiting antifuse circuit

A self-decoupling address detection circuit, comprising:

• an antifuse operative to blow in response to a fuse blowing voltage applied across the antifuse;
• a blown antifuse detect circuit coupled to detect when the antifuse is blown, the blown antifuse detect circuit producing a blown antifuse signal in response to detection of the blowing of the antifuse;
• and
• a decoupling circuit connected to limit current flow through the antifuse in response to the blown antifuse signal.

A computer system comprising:

• a data input device;
• a data output device;
• an address bus;
• and
• computing circuitry coupled to the data input and output devices and the address bus, the computing circuitry including a memory device including an integrated antifuse driving circuit for blowing a plurality of antifuses coupled to a node, the driving circuit including:
• a voltage source for providing a driving voltage to the antifuses to blow the antifuses;
• a plurality of blown antifuse detect circuits each coupled to detect the blown or unblown state of a respective antifuse;
• and
• a plurality of decoupling circuits each coupled to respond to a respective one of the blown antifuse detect circuits to decouple detected blown antifuses, thereby limiting current flow through the blown antifuses.

A method of programming selected fuses in an antifuse bank according to an address, comprising the steps of:

• applying a fuse blowing voltage to the selected antifuses;
• monitoring each selected antifuse with a respective monitoring circuit while the fuse blowing voltage is applied to the select antifuse, to determine a blown or unblown state of the select antifuse;
• upon identifying a blown state of each selected antifuse, limiting current flow through the blown antifuse until all of the selected antifuses are blown;
• and
• after blowing all of the selected antifuses, no longer limiting current flow through the blown antifuses.

A method of blowing a plurality of selected antifuses with a common driving voltage, comprising the steps of:

• coupling the selected antifuses to the common driving voltage;
• monitoring the states of the selected antifuses to identify antifuses that are blown by the common driving voltage;
• and
• for each antifuse identified as a blown antifuse, decoupling the blown antifuse from the common driving voltage while continuing to provide the common driving voltage to the unblown selected antifuses, until all of the selected antifuses are blown.