Compensation circuit for generating read/program/erase voltage

• US 10,613,571 B2
• Filed: 01/24/2019
• Issued: 04/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Sarkar, Surojit, Kalluru, Vivek Venkata, Min, Youngsun, Lim, Ji-Hoon
• Primary Examiner(s): Gblende, Jeffrey A
• Application Number:
  US16/256,410
• Publication Number:
  US 20190377377A1
• Time in Patent Office: 439 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 19/16552 in I.C. power supplies
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 3/245 producing a voltage or current as a predetermined function of the temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 3/262 using field-effect transistors only
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 5/147 Voltage reference generators, voltage or current regulators; Internally lowered supply levels; Compensation for voltage drops G11C5/141 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/04 with means for avoiding disturbances due to temperature effects
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/062 Differential amplifiers of non-latching type, e.g. comparators, long-tailed pairs
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/14 Dummy cell management; Sense reference voltage generators

Abstract

A compensation circuit may include a reference current generating circuit including a first transistor of a first width configured to transfer a first current. The reference generating circuit may output a reference current based on the first current. The compensation circuit may include a compensation current generating circuit including a second transistor of a second width configured to transfer a second current. The second transistor may be selected from among a first group of transistors based on a code. The transistors of the first group may have widths proportional to the first width. The compensation current generating circuit may output a compensation current having a magnitude selected proportionally to a magnitude of the reference current based on the second current. The compensation circuit may include a current mirror circuit configured to output a compensation voltage having a magnitude based on a magnitude of the second current and the second width.

Claims

1. A compensation circuit comprising:

a reference current generating circuit comprising a first transistor of a first width configured to transfer a first current, the reference current generating circuit configured to output a reference current based on the first current;

a compensation current generating circuit comprising a second transistor of a second width configured to transfer a second current, the second transistor selected from among a first group of transistors based on a code, the transistors of the first group having widths proportional to the first width, respectively, the compensation current generating circuit configured to output a compensation current having a magnitude selected to be proportional to a magnitude of the reference current based on the second current;

a current mirror circuit configured to output a compensation voltage having a magnitude that is based on a magnitude of the second current; and

an output transistor configured to output a sensing voltage based on the compensation voltage,

wherein with respect to a first value, a second value, and a third value of the code, when a difference between the first value and the second value is identical to a difference between the second value and the third value, a difference between a first magnitude of the sensing voltage output based on the first value and a second magnitude of the sensing voltage output based on the second value corresponds to a difference between the second magnitude and a third magnitude of the sensing voltage output based on the third value.

2. The compensation circuit of claim 1, wherein the reference current generating circuit further comprises:

a first current source configured to output the reference current; and

a third transistor having the first width and configured to transfer a third current for outputting the reference current to the first current source.

3. The compensation circuit of claim 2, wherein the magnitude of the reference current corresponds to a sum of a magnitude of the first current and a magnitude of the third current.

4. The compensation circuit of claim 2, wherein the compensation current generating circuit further comprises:

a second current source configured to output the compensation current; and

a fourth transistor having the second width and configured to transfer a fourth current for outputting the compensation current to the second current source.

5. The compensation circuit of claim 4, further comprising a direction selecting circuit configured to:

receive a first gate voltage, a magnitude of which varies with a change of a temperature, and a second gate voltage, a magnitude of which is uniform regardless of a change in the temperature;

output the first gate voltage to a gate terminal of the second transistor and the second gate voltage to a gate terminal of the fourth transistor in response to a first logical value of a selection signal; and

output the first gate voltage to the gate terminal of the fourth transistor and the second gate voltage to the gate terminal of the second transistor in response to a second logical value of the selection signal.

6. The compensation circuit of claim 4, wherein the second current source comprises a fifth transistor configured to transfer a fifth current in response to a reference value of the code for outputting the compensation current, and

wherein the magnitude of the compensation current is increased by a magnitude of the fifth current based on a value of the code being increased by the reference value.

7. The compensation circuit of claim 4, wherein the magnitude of the compensation current corresponds to a sum of the magnitude of the second current and a magnitude of the fourth current.

8. The compensation circuit of claim 4, wherein the second transistor includes a gate terminal receiving a first temperature dependent voltage, and

wherein a magnitude of the first temperature dependent voltage varies with a temperature.

9. The compensation circuit of claim 8, wherein the fourth transistor comprises a gate terminal receiving a second temperature dependent voltage, and

wherein the magnitude of the sensing voltage is determined based further on a difference between the first temperature dependent voltage and the second temperature dependent voltage.

10. The compensation circuit of claim 4, wherein the fourth transistor is selected from a second group of transistors based on the code, wherein the transistors of the second group of transistors are configured to have widths proportional to the first width, respectively.

11. The compensation circuit of claim 4, wherein the current mirror circuit comprises:

a sixth transistor comprising a first end configured to output the compensation voltage, the sixth transistor configured to transfer the second current to the second transistor and to transfer the third current to the third transistor; and

a seventh transistor comprising a gate terminal electrically connected to a gate terminal of the sixth transistor, the seventh transistor configured to transfer the first current to the first transistor and to transfer the fourth current to the fourth transistor.

12. The compensation circuit of claim 1, wherein the reference current generating circuit is configured to output the reference current of a fixed magnitude.

13. A compensation circuit comprising:

a reference current generating circuit configured to output a reference current of a fixed magnitude;

a compensation current generating circuit configured to output a compensation current having a magnitude selected proportionally to a magnitude of the reference current based on a code;

a current mirror circuit configured to output to the reference current generating circuit a first current based on the reference current, to output a second current based on the compensation current, and to output a compensation voltage based on the first current and the second current; and

an output transistor configured to output a sensing voltage based on the compensation voltage,

wherein a magnitude of the sensing voltage is associated with a magnitude of the second current such that the magnitude of the sensing voltage is a reference magnitude when the code is a reference value, and the magnitude of the second current is increased by the reference magnitude when a value of the code is increased by the reference value.

14. The compensation circuit of claim 13, wherein the reference current generating circuit comprises a first transistor having a first width, the first transistor configured to transfer the first current for outputting the reference current,

wherein the compensation current generating circuit comprises a second transistor having a second width proportional to the first width of the first transistor, the second transistor configured to transfer the second current for outputting the compensation current.

15. The compensation circuit of claim 14, wherein the second transistor is selected from a group of transistors based on the code, the transistors of the group of transistors having widths proportional to the first width.

16. The compensation circuit of claim 14, wherein the compensation current generating circuit further comprises a third transistor configured to transfer a third current based on the second current transferred from the second transistor, and

wherein a magnitude of the compensation current is increased by a magnitude of the third current whenever the value of the code is increased by the reference value.

17. A voltage generating circuit comprising:

a compensation circuit configured to respectively receive a reference voltage, a feedback voltage, a first temperature dependent voltage, a second temperature independent voltage, and a code having a value which is variable and output a compensation voltage having a magnitude that is based on the code, based on the first temperature dependent voltage, and based on the second temperature independent voltage, the first temperature dependent voltage having a magnitude which varies with a temperature and the second temperature independent voltage having a magnitude that is uniform regardless of the temperature; and

an output transistor configured to output a sensing voltage having a magnitude that is based on a magnitude of the compensation voltage,

wherein the voltage generating circuit is configured to produce the sensing voltage having a magnitude that is proportional to a value of the code, and is associated with a difference between a magnitude of the first temperature dependent voltage and a magnitude of the second temperature independent voltage.

18. The voltage generating circuit of claim 17, wherein the compensation circuit is configured to receive the feedback voltage having a magnitude that is based on the magnitude of the sensing voltage, and to output the compensation voltage based further on the feedback voltage.

19. The voltage generating circuit of claim 17, wherein the compensation circuit includes a plurality of transistors,

wherein the compensation circuit is configured to select one or more transistors from the plurality of transistors based on the code such that the selected one or more transistors transfer a current in response to the first temperature dependent voltage, and

wherein the compensation voltage is output based on the current.

20. The voltage generating circuit of claim 17, wherein the magnitude of the first temperature dependent voltage is negatively proportional to the temperature, and

wherein the magnitude of the sensing voltage is proportional to a value obtained by subtracting the magnitude of the first temperature dependent voltage from the magnitude of the second temperature independent voltage.