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US 7,623,373 B2Granted
Multi-level memory cell sensing
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorGerald Barkley
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The delay arising from wordline capacitance in multi-level memories may be reduced by adding switched transistors along the wordline path. Also, the wordline may be pre-charged to a high level and then the first wordline voltage level for reading may be a center level. The switched transistors may be p-devices whose n-wells are biased by a stable DC voltage. Nodes along the wordline may float when not accessed. Finally, a distributed voltage generator may be used.
Claims23
A method comprising:
- generating at least three selectable wordline voltages for a wordline path of multi-level memory;
- supplying said voltages through at least two switched transistors along the wordline path;
- and
- sensing an intermediate wordline voltage level of said at least three selectable wordline voltages, then sensing the lower of said three selectable wordline voltages and then sensing the higher of said three wordline voltages.
1 more element
A multi-level memory comprising:
- a plurality of multi-level memory cells along a wordline;
- a wordline decoder to generate at least three selectable wordline voltages for said wordline, said decoder including a wordline voltage generator to first sense an intermediate wordline voltage level of said at least three selectable wordline voltages, then sense the lower of said three selectable wordline voltages, and then sense the higher of said three wordline voltages;
- and
- at least two switched transistors along said wordline.
1 more element
A system comprising:
- a processor;
- a wireless interface coupled to said processor;
- and
- a multi-level memory coupled to said processor including a plurality of multi-level memory cells along a wordline, a wordline decoder to generate at least three selectable wordline voltages for said wordline, and at least two switched transistors along said wordline, wherein said wordline path floats when the wordline is not accessed.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.