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US 7,116,587 B2Granted
Charge pump for programmable semiconductor memory
OwnerKam-Fai Tanginventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A depletion type active capacitor may transfer charge from an oscillator to an address line that needs to be boosted for programming. Such a charge pump may be useful in semiconductor memories such as flash memories, EEPROM memories, and NAND EEPROM memories. In some embodiments, relatively low supply voltages can be boosted.
Claims12
A method comprising:
- boosting the charge on an address line of a semiconductor memory by transferring charge from an oscillator using a depletion type active capacitor that is selectively coupled to said oscillator only when the address line is selected.
A method comprising:
- boosting the charge on an address line of a semiconductor memory by transferring charge from an oscillator using a depletion type active capacitor;
- selectively coupling the address line to a charged transfer node;
- coupling the oscillator output to said charged transfer node only when the address line is selected;
- and
- gating said oscillator output to said active capacitor through a transistor whose gate is selectively coupled to said address line.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.