MEMORY DEVICE AND MEMORY SYSTEM HAVING THE SAME

• US 20180012662A1
• Filed: 02/23/2017
• Published: 01/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: SHIN, Hyun-Jin, SHIN, Ho Young
• Granted Patent: US 9,928,917 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/4074 Power supply or voltage generation circuits, e.g. bias voltage generators, substrate voltage generators, back-up power, power control circuits
• 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 11/4094 Bit-line management or control circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/417 for memory cells of the field-effect type
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/419 Read-write [R-W] circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/0466 comprising cells with charge storage in an insulating layer, e.g. metal-nitride-oxide-silicon [MNOS], silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon [SONOS] G11C16/0483, G11C16/0491 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/0483 comprising cells having several storage transistors connected in series
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/24 Bit-line control circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/26 Sensing or reading circuits; Data output circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/30 Power supply circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 2029/1204 Bit line control
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 2207/063 Current sense amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/028 with adaption or trimming of parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/04 with means for avoiding disturbances due to temperature effects
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/067 Single-ended amplifiers

Abstract

A memory device includes a memory cell, a bit line connected to the memory cell, a control voltage generator configured to generate a proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) current and generate an analog control voltage inversely proportional to the PTAT current, and a load current control circuit configured to control a first load current supplied to the bit line based on the analog control voltage.

Claims

1. A memory device comprising:

a memory cell;

a bit line connected to the memory cell;

a control voltage generator configured to generate a proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) current based on a control code, and to generate an analog control voltage inversely proportional to the PTAT current; and

a load current control circuit configured to control a first load current supplied to the bit line based on the analog control voltage.

2. The memory device of claim 1, further comprising:

a pre-charge current control circuit configured to control an amount of pre-charge current supplied to the bit line based on a pulse width of a pre-charge control signal; and

a pre-charge pulse width control circuit configured to control the pulse width of the pre-charge control signal based on the analog control voltage.

3. The memory device of claim 2, wherein, the pre-charge pulse width control circuit is configured to generate the pre-charge control signal such that the pulse width of the pre-charge control signal increases if a temperature of the memory device increases, and the pulse width of the pre-charge control signal decreases if the temperature of the memory device decreases.

4. The memory device of claim 2, wherein, when the temperature of the memory device increases, both the first load current and the pre-charge current increase.

5. The memory device of claim 2, further comprising:

a current generator configured to generate a second load current based on the analog control voltage, the second load current being same as the first load current; and

a control code generator configured to generate the control code based on the second load current and the reference current, and to provide the control code to the control voltage generator.

6. The memory device of claim 5, wherein,

the control code generator is configured to set the control code to a first value, if the second load current is less than the reference current, and

the control voltage generator is configured to increase an amount of the PTAT current, if the control code has the first value.

7. The memory device of claim 1, wherein the memory cell is one of a DRAM, a SRAM, and a NAND flash memory cell.

8. The memory device of claim 2, wherein a current driving capability of the pre-charge current control circuit is larger than a current driving capability of the load current control circuit.

9. A memory system comprising:

a memory controller; and

a memory device connected to the memory controller, the memory device including,

a memory cell,

a bit line connected to the memory cell,

a control voltage generator configured to generate a proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) current based on a control code, and to generate an analog control voltage inversely proportional to the PTAT current, and

a load current control circuit configured to control a first load current supplied to the bit line based on the analog control voltage.

10. The memory system of claim 9, further comprising:

a pre-charge control circuit configured to control an amount of a pre-charge current supplied to the bit line based on a pulse width of a pre-charge control signal; and

a pre-charge pulse width control circuit configured to control activation time of the pre-charge control signal based on the analog control voltage.

11. The memory system of claim 10, wherein, the pre-charge pulse width control circuit is configured to generate the pre-charge control signal such that the activation time of the pre-charge control signal increases if a temperature of the memory device increases, and the activation time of the pre-charge control signal decreases if the temperature of the memory device decreases.

12. The memory system of claim 10, wherein, when the temperature of the memory device goes up, both the first load current and the pre-charge current increase in amount.

13. The memory system of claim 10, further comprising:

a current generator configured to generate a second load current based on the analog control voltage, the second load current being same as the first load current; and

a control code generator configured to generate the control code based on the second load current and the reference current, and to provide the control code to the control voltage generator.

14. The memory system of claim 13, wherein,

the control code generator is configured to set the control code to a first value, if the second load current is less than the reference current, and

the control voltage generator is configured to increase the amount of the PTAT current, if the control code has the first value.

15. The memory system of claim 10, wherein a current driving capability of the pre-charge current control circuit is larger than a current driving capability of the load current control circuit.

16. A memory device comprising:

a control voltage generator configured to generate an analog control voltage that is inversely proportional to a proportional to absolute temperature (PTAB) current; and

a load current control circuit configured generate a first load current based on the analog control voltage, the first load current being supplied to a memory cell via a bit line.

17. The memory device of claim 16, wherein the load current control circuit is configured to generate the first load current based on the analog control voltage such that the first load current is proportional to a temperature of the memory device and the memory device adaptively compensates for a leakage current associated with the bit line, the leakage current being based on the temperature of the memory device.

18. The memory device of claim 16, further comprising:

a pre-charge pulse width control circuit configured to control a pulse width of a pre-charge control signal based on the analog control voltage; and

a pre-charge current control circuit configured to control an amount of pre-charge current supplied to the bit line based on the pulse width of the pre-charge control signal.

19. The memory device of claim 16, further comprising:

a control code generator configured to generate a control code based on a second load current and a reference current, the second load current being based on the analog control voltage, wherein

the control voltage generator is configured to generate the PTAB current based on the control code.

20. The memory device of claim 19, wherein the load current control circuit is configured to generate the first load current by trimming the first load current to a same value as the reference current based on the PTAB current such that a size of sensing margins associated with the memory device increases.