Method of maintaining the state of semiconductor memory having electrically floating body transistor
First Claim
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1. A method of maintaining a state of a memory cell without interrupting access to said memory cell, said method comprising:
- applying a back bias to the cell, wherein application of said back bias to said cell results in at least two stable floating body charge levels.
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Abstract
Methods of maintaining a state of a memory cell without interrupting access to the memory cell are provided, including applying a back bias to the cell to offset charge leakage out of a floating body of the cell, wherein a charge level of the floating body indicates a state of the memory cell; and accessing the cell.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method of maintaining a state of a memory cell without interrupting access to said memory cell, said method comprising:
applying a back bias to the cell, wherein application of said back bias to said cell results in at least two stable floating body charge levels. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of operating a memory array having rows and columns of memory cells assembled into an array of said memory cells, each said memory cell having a floating body region for storing data;
- the method comprising;
performing a holding operation on at least all of said cells not aligned in a row or column of a selected cell; and accessing said selected cell and performing a read or write operation on said selected cell while performing said holding operation on said at least all of said cells not aligned in a row or column of said selected cell; wherein said holding operation results in at least two stable floating body states. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
- the method comprising;
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22. A method of operating a memory array having rows and columns of memory cells assembled into an array of said memory cells, each said memory cell having a floating body region for storing data;
- the method comprising;
refreshing a state of at least one of said memory cells comprising inputting to at least one back bias terminal of said at least one of said memory cells; and accessing at least one other of said memory cells, wherein access of said at least one other of said memory cells is not interrupted by said refreshing, and wherein said refreshing is performed without alternating read and write operations. - View Dependent Claims (23)
- the method comprising;
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24. A method of operating a memory array having rows and columns of memory cells assembled into an array of said memory cells, each said memory cell having a floating body region for storing data;
- the method comprising;
accessing a selected memory cell from said memory cells; maintaining unselected memory cells in a holding mode; and performing a simultaneous write and verify operation on said selected memory cell having been accessed, without performing an alternating write and read operation. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
- the method comprising;
Specification