US 5,856,950 A · Cancellation of redundant elements with a cancel bank

Abstract

The cancellation of a redundant element of an integrated circuit with a cancel bank is disclosed. In one embodiment, a fuse or antifuse bank is coupled to the redundant element and permanently programmed to respond to the address of a defective primary element. If the redundant element is found to be defective, the fuse or antifuse bank is canceled, and a result the redundant element is also canceled. A cancel line of the fuse or antifuse bank, along with the cancel line of each of a plurality of other fuse or antifuse banks, is coupled to a cancel bank. The cancel bank comprises a multiplexer and a plurality of cancel antifuses less in number than the number of fuse or antifuse banks. The cancel antifuses are selectively enabled such that the fuse or antifuse bank coupled to the defective redundant element may be canceled.

Claims14

Dependent claims

An integrated circuit comprising:

a plurality of redundant elements;
a plurality of switch banks, each switch bank operatively coupled to a redundant element and having a plurality of switches;
and,
a plurality of cancel banks, each cancel bank permitting cancellation of a particular switch bank and comprising:
a plurality of cancel antifuses less than the plurality of switch banks and selectively enabled to correspond to a particular switch bank;
and,
a circuit, operatively coupled to the switch banks and the cancel antifuses, to select the particular switch bank addressed by the plurality of cancel antifuses.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Cancellation of redundant elements with a cancel bank

Life of this patent

Cancellation of redundant elements with a cancel bank

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims14