Stored charge differential sense amplifier

Communications: electrical – Digital comparator systems

Patent

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

340173FF, 307238, 307279, G11C 1140

Patent

active

040104532

ABSTRACT:
A differential sense amplifier for semiconductor memory cells is described which uses charge transfer preamplification in combination with a ratioless cross-coupled latch circuit to provide sensing and regeneration of binary information stored in a charge storage device. The sense amplifier may be utilized in arrays of single FET/capacitor memory cells in which the sense amplifier is centrally located and data input/output connections are made at one outside edge of the array. Single bit line driving is made possible by the use of a bit decoder which unconditionally couples charge to a single bit line common mode charge coupling to decrease potentials on a pair of bit lines coupled to the sense amplifier. The common mode bit line discharge means also increases response of the charge transfer preamplifier stage. A single transmission gate device is used for both reading out from a single bit line and writing new data into a memory cell, thus simplifying the input/output circuitry. A sense node shunting device is utilized during the bit line precharge portion of the memory cycle to partially charge the bit sense line previously discharged to ground in order to conserve power and to ensure proper operation of the charge transfer preamplifier on the next memory cycle. In semiconductor memory applications where high performance is critical, the charge transfer preamplifier stage and common mode discharging circuit may be omitted and the bit lines connected directly to the sense nodes of a cross-coupled latching circuit without the loss of other benefits of the circuit.

REFERENCES:
patent: 3946368 (1976-03-01), Chou

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Stored charge differential sense amplifier does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Stored charge differential sense amplifier, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Stored charge differential sense amplifier will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1355089

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.