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US 7,733,704 B2Granted
Non-volatile memory with power-saving multi-pass sensing
AssigneeSanDisk Corporation
InventorsShou-Chang Tsao, Yan Li
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Power-saving techniques are employed in sensing a group of non-volatile memory cells in parallel. One technique is that the coupling of the memory cells to their bit lines is delayed during a precharge operation in order to reduce the cells' currents working against the precharge. Another technique is that a power-consuming precharge period is minimized by preemptively starting the sensing in a multi-pass sensing operation. High current cells not detected as a result of the premature sensing will still be able to be detected in a subsequent pass.
Claims7
A nonvolatile memory, comprising:
- a group of memory cells accessible by associated bit lines;
- a controller for controlling operations of the memory;
- a precharge circuit;
- said controller controlling said precharge circuit to initially precharge the associated bit lines while turning off cell currents in the group of memory cells until the associated bit lines have substantially reached a first predetermined voltage;
- said controller further controlling said precharge circuit to continue precharging the associated bit lines while turning on cell currents in the group of memory cells until the associated bit lines have substantially reached a second predetermined voltage that is stable for sensing cell currents;
- and
- a sensing circuit for sensing the group of memory cells in parallel while coupled to the associated bit lines.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.