Program load adaptive voltage generator for flash memories

Author

Fiocchi, Carlo ; Torelli, Guido ; Ghezzi, Stefano ; Maccarrone, Marco

Author_Institution

Italtel Soc. Italiana Telecommun. SpA, Milan, Italy

Volume

32

Issue

1

fYear

1997

fDate

1/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

100

Lastpage

104

Abstract

This paper describes a program load voltage generator for flash memories. It is based on an adaptive feedback loop which senses the current delivered to the memory cells during programming and adjusts the output voltage accordingly to compensate for the voltage drop caused by the programming current across the bit-line select transistors. The proposed circuit (silicon area=0.065 mm²) was integrated in a 0.8-μm CMOS 4 Mb flash memory device (0.6 μm in the matrix). Experimental evaluations showed that very effective compensation is achieved, with bit-line voltage kept at the desired value during the whole programming operation. A spread as small as 70 mV was measured between the single-bit and 16-b programming cases

Keywords

CMOS memory circuits; EPROM; PLD programming; circuit feedback; compensation; voltage control; 0.6 micron; 0.8 micron; 4 Mbit; CMOS flash memory device; adaptive feedback loop; adaptive voltage generator; bit-line select transistors; current sensing; program load voltage generator; voltage drop compensation; CMOS integrated circuits; CMOS memory circuits; Electrons; Feedback loop; Flash memory; Integrated circuit measurements; Programmable circuits; Read only memory; Silicon; Voltage; Voltage control;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9200

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/4.553187

Filename

553187