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US 8,477,555 B2Granted
Deselect drivers for a memory array
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorHernan A. Castro
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Asymmetric select and deselect drivers are provided for select lines driven to a resistive cross-point memory array. An address may be fully decoded to determine the active select driver, but a partial decode may be performed for the deselect drivers. Some embodiments may manage the odd and even deselect drivers as two sets of drivers and some embodiments may use sub-optimal transistors as the deselect drivers to save die area. Some embodiments may implement the deselect drivers as modified memory elements to reduce die area further.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- receiving an address identifying a addressed memory cell within a memory array;
- applying a deselect voltage to a first set of select lines before a memory access using deselect drivers;
- isolating at least some of the first set of select lines from a source of the deselect voltage during the memory access;
- and
- applying a select voltage to a select line associated with the addressed memory cell during the memory access using a select driver.
2 more elements
A device comprising:
- a memory array comprising memory cells coupled to select lines;
- deselect drivers coupled to the select lines;
- select drivers coupled to the select lines;
- deselect decode circuitry to enable a first set of the deselect drivers to assert a deselect voltage on a first set of the select lines before a memory access and to isolate at least some of the first set of the select lines from a source of the deselect voltage during the memory access;
- and
- select decode circuitry to receive an address of an addressed memory cell and enable a select driver to assert a select voltage on a select line coupled to the addressed memory cell during the memory access.
3 more elements
A system comprising:
- memory circuitry;
- and
- a processor capable of reading and writing data to the memory circuitry;
- wherein the memory circuitry comprises:
- a memory array comprising memory cells coupled to select lines;
- deselect drivers coupled to the select lines;
- select drivers coupled to the select lines;
- deselect decode circuitry to enable a first set of the deselect drivers to assert a deselect voltage on a first set of the select lines before a memory access and to isolate at least some of the first set of the select lines from a source of the deselect voltage during the memory access;
- and
- select decode circuitry to receive an address of an addressed memory cell and enable a select driver to assert a select voltage on a select line coupled to the addressed memory cell during the memory access.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.