APPARATUSES AND METHODS FOR PERFORMING AN EXCLUSIVE OR OPERATION USING SENSING CIRCUITRY

• US 20150357020A1
• Filed: 05/18/2015
• Published: 12/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Inventors: Manning, Troy A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,455,020 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/4087 Address decoders, e.g. bit - or word line decoders; Multiple line decoders
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/4091 Sense or sense/refresh amplifiers, or associated sense circuitry, e.g. for coupled bit-line precharging, equalising or isolating
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/4093 Input/output [I/O] data interface arrangements, e.g. data buffers
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/4096 Input/output [I/O] data management or control circuits, e.g. reading or writing circuits, I/O drivers or bit-line switches
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/42 using error correcting codes [ECC] or parity check
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/065 Differential amplifiers of latching type
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/1006 Data managing, e.g. manipulating data before writing or reading out, data bus switches or control circuits therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/1012 Data reordering during input/output, e.g. crossbars, layers of multiplexers, shifting or rotating

Abstract

The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods related to determining an XOR value in memory. An example method can include performing a NAND operation on a data value stored in a first memory cell and a data value stored in a second memory cell. The method can include performing an OR operation on the data values stored in the first and second memory cells. The method can include performing an AND operation on the result of the NAND operation and a result of the OR operation without transferring data from the memory array via an input/output (I/O) line.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining, using sensing circuitry coupled to a pair of complementary sense lines of an array of memory cells, an exclusive OR (XOR) value of data stored in a number of memory cells coupled to a first sense line of the pair without transferring the data from the array using an input/output line, wherein determining the XOR value comprises;

performing an AND operation on;

a resultant value of a NAND operation performed on a first data value stored in a first memory cell coupled to the first sense line and a second data value stored in a second memory cell coupled to the first sense line; and

a resultant value of an OR operation performed on the first data value and the second data value.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the NAND operation includes:

loading a compute component of the sensing circuitry with the first data value;

enabling an access line to which the second memory cell is coupled and a first pass transistor which results in a data value corresponding to an AND operation performed on the first and second data values being stored in the compute component, wherein the first pass transistor has a first source/drain region coupled to the first sense line; and

inverting the data value stored in the compute component, the inverted data value being the resultant value of the NAND operation.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein inverting the data value stored in the compute component comprises:

enabling an invert transistor coupled to a cross coupled latch of the sensing circuitry and to the one of the pair of complementary sense lines.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein loading the compute component coupled to the pair of complementary sense lines with the first data value comprises enabling a first access line and the pair of complementary sense lines.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising writing the resultant value of the NAND operation to a third memory cell coupled to the first sense line.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein writing the resultant value of the NAND operation to the third memory cell comprises enabling the third access line.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein performing the OR operation includes:

loading the compute component with the first data value; and

enabling the access line to which the second memory cell is coupled and a second pass transistor having a first source/drain region coupled to a second sense line of the pair of complementary sense lines such that the resultant value of the OR operation is stored in the compute component.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein performing the AND operation on the resultant value of the NAND operation and the resultant value of the OR operation includes:

enabling an access line to which the third memory cell storing the resultant value of the NAND operation is coupled; and

enabling the first pass transistor which results in a resultant value of the AND operation performed on the NAND resultant value and the OR resultant value being stored in the compute component, wherein the resultant value is the XOR value corresponding to the first and second data values.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensing circuitry comprises a sense amplifier and a compute component and wherein the method includes loading the compute component with the first data value.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

an array of memory cells storing data in a group of memory cells coupled to a sense line;

sensing circuitry coupled to the array and configured to perform an XOR operation on the data without transferring data out of the array via an input/output line, wherein the XOR operation includes;

a NAND operation performed on a data value stored in a first memory cell coupled to a first access line and a data value stored in a second memory cell coupled to a second access line, wherein a resultant value of the NAND operation is stored in a third memory cell coupled to a third access line;

an OR performed operation on the data values stored in the first and second memory cells; and

an AND operation performed on the resultant value of the NAND operation and a resultant value of the OR operation.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a controller configured to provide control signals to the sensing circuitry to perform the XOR operation.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a host configured to provide instructions executed by an on-die controller configured to provide control signals to the sensing circuitry to perform the XOR operation.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the sensing circuitry comprises a sense amplifier and a compute component coupled to a pair of complementary sense lines comprising the sense line and a complementary sense line, and wherein the sensing circuitry is configured to receive a number of control signals to, in association with performing the NAND operation:

load the compute component with the first data value;

perform a first AND operation on the first data value and the second data value by enabling the second access line and only one of a first pass transistor coupled to one of the pair of complementary sense lines and a second pass transistor couple to the other of the pair of complementary sense lines which results in a resultant value of the first AND operation being stored in the compute component; and

invert the resultant value of the first AND operation stored in the compute component which results in the compute component storing a resultant value of the NAND operation.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the sensing circuitry being configured to receive a number of control signals to, in association with performing the NAND operation, load the compute component by enabling the second access line, the first pass transistor, and the second pass transistor.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first, second, and third access lines are different access lines.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the sensing circuitry comprises a sense amplifier and a compute component coupled to a pair of complementary sense lines comprising the sense line and a complementary sense line, and wherein the sensing circuitry is configured to receive a number of control signals to, in association with performing the OR operation:

load the compute component coupled to the sense line with the data value stored in the first memory cell; and

enable an access transistor corresponding to the second memory cell and activate only one of a pass transistor coupled to the sense line and a pass transistor coupled to the complementary sense line which results in a resultant value of the OR operation being stored in the compute component.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the sensing circuitry comprises a sense amplifier and a compute component coupled to a pair of complementary sense lines comprising the sense line and a complementary sense line, and wherein the sensing circuitry is configured to receive a number of control signals to, in association with performing the AND operation:

enable an access transistor corresponding to the third memory cell; and

activate only one of a first pass transistor coupled to one of the pair of complementary sense lines and a second pass transistor couple to the other of the pair of complementary sense lines which results in a resultant value of the AND operation being stored in the compute component.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the sensing circuitry is further configured to receive a number of control signals to, in association with performing the AND operation, copy a resultant value of the AND operation from the compute component to a fourth memory cell coupled to a fourth access line by enabling an access transistor corresponding to the fourth memory cell while activating both of the first and the second pass transistors.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

an array of memory cells comprising;

a plurality of sense lines coupled to a number of memory cells; and

a plurality of access lines coupled to the number of memory cells; and

sensing circuitry coupled to the array and configured to perform a number of exclusive OR (XOR) operations, on a sense line by sense line basis, on data values stored in each of the number of memory cells coupled to the plurality of sense lines without transferring data from the array via an input/output (I/O) line.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the plurality of sense lines includes a plurality of complementary sense lines and each set of complementary sense lines are coupled to a sense amplifier and a compute component.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, comprising a first set of pass transistors coupled to one of the complementary sense lines and a second set of pass transistors coupled to the other one of the complementary sense lines, wherein the first set of pass transistors and the second set of pass transistors are coupled between the sense amplifiers and the compute components corresponding to each sense line of the plurality of sense lines.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, comprising a first set of invert transistors coupled to the one of the complementary sense lines and a second set of invert transistors coupled to the other one of the complementary sense lines, wherein the first and second set of invert transistors are each coupled to the corresponding sense amplifiers and compute components.

23. A method, comprising:

performing XOR operations on data values stored in memory cells coupled to a number of access lines and a number of sense lines using sensing circuitry coupled to each of the number of sense lines,

wherein the XOR operations are performed on a sense line by sense line basis on data values stored in the memory cells coupled to each of the sensing circuitry in parallel, and performing the XOR operations on the sense line by sense line basis includes;

performing a number of NAND operations on data values stored in a number of memory cells coupled to access lines;

storing results of the number of NAND operations in corresponding memory cells coupled to an access line and coupled to each of the corresponding sensing circuitry;

performing a number of OR operations on the data values stored in the number of memory cells; and

performing a number of AND operations on the results of each of the corresponding number of NAND operations and results of each of the corresponding number of OR operations.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein performing the number of NAND operations comprises:

loading sensing circuitry coupled to each of the pairs of complementary sense lines with a first set of data values stored in memory cells coupled to a first access line by enabling a first access line and each of the pairs of complementary sense lines;

performing a first set of AND operations on the first set of data values and a second set of data values stored in memory cells coupled to a second access line by enabling the second access line and a first set of pass transistors coupled to one of the pairs of complementary sense lines; and

inverting a result of the first set of AND operations in each of the corresponding sensing circuitry.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the first access line and the pairs of complementary sense lines are disabled before performing the first set of AND operations.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the second access line and the first set of pass transistors are disabled before inverting the results of the first set of AND operations.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein inverting the results of the first set of AND operations comprises enabling a set of invert transistors coupled to a group of cross coupled latches of each of the corresponding sensing circuitry and to the one of the pairs of complementary sense lines.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the set of invert transistors is disabled before storing the inverted results of the first set of AND operations.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein storing the results of the number of NAND operations comprises enabling the access line coupled to the corresponding memory cells storing the results of the number of NAND operations.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the access line coupled to the corresponding memory cells storing the results of the number of NAND operations is disabled before performing the number of OR operations.

31. The method of claim 24, wherein performing the number of OR operations comprises:

loading the sensing circuitry coupled to the pairs of complementary sense lines with the first set of data values corresponding to each of the complementary pairs of sense lines by enabling the first access line; and

enabling the second access line and a second set of pass transistors coupled to each of an other one of the pairs of complementary sense lines.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the second access line and each of the corresponding second pass transistors is disabled before performing the second set of AND operations.