WRITE ASSIST CIRCUIT, MEMORY DEVICE AND METHOD

• US 20140233330A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 08/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: KO, Hsin-Hsin, CHENG, Chiting, LEE, Cheng Hung, CHANG, Jonathan Tsung-Yung, LIN, Yangsyu
• Granted Patent: US 9,324,413 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 365/189.16
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/419 Read-write [R-W] circuits

Abstract

A write assist circuit includes a first switch, a second switch and a bias voltage circuit. The first switch connects a cell supply voltage node of a memory cell to a power supply voltage node in response to a write control signal having a first state, and disconnects the cell supply voltage node from the power supply voltage node in response to the write control signal having a second state. The bias voltage circuit generates, at an output thereof, an adjustable bias voltage lower than the power supply voltage. The second switch connects the cell supply voltage node to the output of the bias voltage circuit in response to the write control signal having the second state, and disconnects the cell supply voltage node from the output of the bias voltage circuit in response to the write control signal having the first state.

Claims

1. A write assist circuit, comprising:

a first switch coupled between a cell supply voltage node of a memory cell and a power supply voltage node, the first switch configured to

connect the cell supply voltage node to the power supply voltage node for applying a power supply voltage on the power supply voltage node to the memory cell in response to a write control signal having a first state, and

disconnect the cell supply voltage node from the power supply voltage node in response to the write control signal having a second state,

a bias voltage circuit configured to generate, at an output thereof, an adjustable bias voltage lower than the power supply voltage; and

a second switch coupled between the cell supply voltage node and the output of the bias voltage circuit, the second switch configured to

connect the cell supply voltage node to the output of the bias voltage circuit for applying the adjustable bias voltage lower than the power supply voltage to the memory cell in response to the write control signal having the second state, and

disconnect the cell supply voltage node from the output of the bias voltage circuit in response to the write control signal having the first state.

2. The write assist circuit of claim 1, wherein the bias voltage circuit comprises an adjustable voltage divider.

3. The write assist circuit of claim 2, wherein the adjustable voltage divider comprises a pull-up circuit and a pull-down circuit, the pull-up circuit and the pull-down circuit are coupled to the output of the bias voltage circuit, and

at least one of the pull-up circuit or the pull-down circuit has an adjustable resistance.

4. The write assist circuit of claim 3, wherein the at least one of the pull-up circuit or the pull-down circuit having the adjustable drive resistance comprises a plurality of transistors coupled in parallel to the output of the bias voltage circuit,

the transistors configured to be turned ON or OFF in response to a digital control signal for adjusting the bias voltage at the output of the bias voltage circuit.

5. The write assist circuit of claim 3, wherein the at least one of the pull-up circuit or the pull-down circuit comprises a transistor configured to operate in a linear region, and a resistance of the transistor varies in response to a level of an analog control signal for adjusting the bias voltage at the output of the bias voltage circuit.

6. The write assist circuit of claim 1, further comprising:

a first logic circuit including;

first and second inputs configured to receive the write control signal and a write assist enable signal, respectively, and

an output coupled to control terminals of the first switch and the second switch,

the first logic circuit configured to enable or disable, in accordance with the write assist enable signal, output of the write control signal to the control terminals of the first switch and the second switch.

7. The write assist circuit of claim 6, further comprising:

a second logic circuit including;

first and second inputs configured to receive an address signal associated with the memory cell and a bit write enable signal, respectively, and

an output coupled to the first input of the first logic circuit,

the second logic circuit configured to enable or disable, in accordance with the bit write enable signal, output of the address signal as the write control signal to the first logic circuit.

8. The write assist circuit of claim 6, wherein the bias voltage circuit is configured to be enabled or disabled by the write assist enable signal.

9. The write assist circuit of claim 1, further comprising:

a NAND gate having first and second inputs configured to receive the write control signal and a write assist enable signal, respectively; and

an inverter having an input coupled to an output of the NAND gate, wherein

the first switch comprises a first p-channel metal-oxide semiconductor (PMOS) transistor having a source coupled to the power supply voltage node, a drain coupled to the cell supply voltage node, and a gate coupled to an output of the inverter;

the second switch comprises a second PMOS transistor having a source coupled to the cell supply voltage node, a drain coupled to the output of the bias voltage circuit, and a gate coupled to the output of the NAND gate; and

the bias voltage circuit comprises

at least one pull-up PMOS transistor having a source coupled to a power supply terminal, a drain defining the output of the bias voltage circuit, and a gate configured to receive a voltage control signal for adjusting the bias voltage at the drain of the pull-up PMOS transistor, and

a pull-down PMOS transistor having a source coupled to the drain of the pull-up PMOS transistor, a drain coupled to a ground, and a gate configured to receive an inverse signal of the write assist enable signal.

10. The write assist circuit of claim 1, further comprising:

an inverter having an input configured to receive a bit write enable signal; and

a NOR gate having a first input coupled to the output of the inverter, a second input configured to receive an address signal associated with the memory cell, and an output coupled to the first input of the NAND gate.

11. A memory device, comprising:

a memory array comprising;

a plurality of memory cells arranged in a plurality of columns, and

a plurality of cell supply voltage rails each coupled to the memory cells in one of the columns; and

a write assist circuit comprising;

a bias voltage circuit common to the columns in the memory array and configured to generate, at an output thereof, an adjustable bias voltage, and

a plurality of supply voltage switching circuits each corresponding to one of the columns of the memory array and configured to

connect the cell supply voltage rail of the corresponding column to the output of the bias voltage circuit in response to the column selected for writing, and

connect the cell supply voltage rail of the corresponding column to a power supply voltage node having a power supply voltage higher than the bias voltage in response to the column not selected for writing.

12. The memory device of claim 11, further comprising:

a data input/output unit coupled to the memory array and configured to input and output data to and from the memory array.

13. The memory device of claim 12, wherein

the data input/output unit comprises a bit write enable input configured to receive a bit write enable signal, and

the memory device further comprises a logic circuit coupling the bit write enable input to each of the supply voltage switching circuits for enabling or disabling writing in the corresponding column in accordance with the bit write enable signal.

14. The memory device of claim 12, further comprising:

a plurality of the memory arrays,

a plurality of the data input/output units each corresponding to one of the memory arrays, and

a plurality of the write assist circuits each corresponding to one of the memory arrays and arranged in the data input/output unit corresponding to the memory array.

15. The memory device of claim 14, wherein the outputs of the bias voltage circuits of the write assist circuits are electrically isolated from each other.

16. The memory device of claim 11, wherein the bias voltage circuit comprises an adjustable voltage divider.

17. The memory device of claim 16, wherein the adjustable voltage divider comprises:

at least one pull-up p-channel metal-oxide semiconductor (PMOS) transistor having a source coupled to a power supply terminal, a drain defining the output of the bias voltage circuit, and a gate configured to receive a voltage control signal for adjusting the bias voltage at the drain of the pull-up PMOS transistor, and

a pull-down PMOS transistor having a source coupled to the drain of the pull-up PMOS transistor, a drain coupled to a ground, and a gate configured to receive an inverse signal of a write assist enable signal.

18. The memory device of claim 17, wherein each of the supply voltage switching circuits comprises:

a NAND gate having first and second inputs configured to receive a column select signal and the write assist enable signal, respectively, the column select signal indicating whether the corresponding column is selected for writing or not,

an inverter having an input coupled to an output of the NAND gate,

a first PMOS transistor having a source coupled to the power supply voltage node, a drain coupled to the cell supply voltage rail, and a gate coupled to an output of the inverter;

the second PMOS transistor having a source coupled to the cell supply voltage rail, a drain coupled to the output of the bias voltage circuit, and a gate coupled to the output of the NAND gate.

19. A write assist method, comprising:

selecting one or more columns among a plurality of columns of a memory device for a write operation;

connecting cell supply voltage nodes of memory cells of one or more unselected columns among the columns of the memory device to a power supply voltage node to apply a power supply voltage on the power supply voltage node to the cell supply voltage nodes of the memory cells of the one or more unselected columns; and

connecting cell supply voltage nodes of memory cells of the one or more selected columns to an output of a bias voltage circuit shared by the columns in the memory device to apply an adjustable bias voltage at the output of the bias voltage circuit to the cell supply voltage nodes of the memory cells of the one or more selected columns, the adjustable bias voltage lower than the power supply voltage.

20. The write assist method of claim 19, further comprising

outputting a column select signal indicating whether or not the corresponding column is selected for the write operation according to an address signal associated with each of the columns and a bit write enable signal;

and

supplying the column select signal to a supply voltage switching circuit associated with the corresponding column to cause the supply voltage switching circuit to perform the connecting the memory cells of the corresponding column to the power supply voltage node or the connecting the memory cells of the corresponding column to the output of the bias voltage circuit in accordance with the supplied column select signal.