Single-ended current sense amplifier
AssigneeAtmel Corporation
InventorsJean Michel Daga, Caroline Papaix, Jeanine Guichaoua
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A single-ended sense amplifier having a precharge circuit for maintaining a stable voltage on a bitline, a sensing circuit coupled to the bitline for sensing an amount of current flowing into the bitline, a direct current amplification circuit electrically coupled to the sensing circuit for amplifying the current sensed on the bitline, a current-to-voltage conversion circuit for converting the sensed current to a voltage and a voltage amplification circuit for amplifying the voltage at the sense amp output. The sense amplifier can be implemented using standard CMOS components and provides improved access time at low power supply voltage, high robustness to process variations, and the ability to sense very low currents.
Claims22
A current sense amplifier comprising:
- a precharge circuit receiving an activation signal and a first power supply voltage and producing a precharge voltage on a bitline;
- a sensing circuit coupled to the bitline and having means for sensing an amount of current flowing into the bitline;
- a current amplification circuit electrically coupled to the sensing circuit and having means for amplifying the current sensed on the bitline;
- a current-to-voltage conversion circuit electrically coupled to the current amplification circuit and having means for converting the sensed current to a first voltage;
- and
- a voltage amplification circuit electrically coupled to the current-to-voltage conversion circuit and having means for amplifying the first voltage to produce a second voltage at a sense amplifier output.
A current sense amplifier comprising:
- a precharge circuit receiving an activation signal and a first power supply voltage and producing a precharge voltage on a bitline;
- a sensing circuit electrically coupled to the bitline and having means for sensing an amount of current flowing into the bitline;
- means for isolating the precharge voltage on the bitline from the sensing circuit;
- an overshoot filter circuit electrically coupled to the bitline, said overshoot filter circuit filter including means for filtering glitches on the bitline;
- a current amplification circuit electrically coupled to the sensing circuit and having means for amplifying the current sensed on the bitline;
- a current-to-voltage conversion circuit electrically coupled to the current amplification circuit and having means for converting the sensed current to a first voltage;
- and
- a voltage amplification circuit electrically coupled to the current-to-voltage conversion circuit and having means for amplifying the first voltage to produce a second voltage at a sense amplifier output.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.