Patent classifications
G11C29/50012
Device for detecting margin of circuit operating at certain speed
Disclosed is a device for detecting the margin of a circuit operating at an operating speed. The device includes: a signal generating circuit generating an input signal including predetermined data; a first adjustable delay circuit delaying the input signal by a first delay amount and thereby generating a delayed input signal; a circuit under test performing a predetermined operation based on a predetermined operation timing and thereby generating a to-be-tested signal according to the delayed input signal; a second adjustable delay circuit delaying the to-be-tested signal by a second delay amount and thereby generating a delayed to-be-tested signal; a comparison circuit comparing the data included in the delayed to-be-tested signal with the predetermined data based on the predetermined operation timing and thereby generating a comparison result; and a calibration circuit determining whether the circuit under test passes a speed test according to the comparison result.
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE
A semiconductor device including an SRAM capable of sensing a defective memory cell that does not satisfy desired characteristics is provided. The semiconductor device includes a memory cell, a bit line pair being coupled to the memory cell and having a voltage changed towards a power-supply voltage and a ground voltage in accordance with data of the memory cell in a read mode, and a specifying circuit for specifying a bit line out of the bit line pair. In the semiconductor device, a wiring capacitance is coupled to the bit line specified by the specifying circuit and a voltage of the specified bit line is set to a voltage between a power voltage and a ground voltage in a test mode.
Read integration time calibration for non-volatile storage
Read reference levels are calibrated by calibrating integration times. An integration time is the length of time for which the charge on a sense node is allowed to change while the memory cell is being sensed. Calibrating the integration time is much faster than calibrating the reference voltage itself. This is due, in part, to reducing the number of different reference voltages that need to be applied during calibration. Calibrating the integration time may use different test integration times for a given read reference voltage, thereby reducing the number of read reference voltages. Hence, calibrating the integration time(s) is very efficient timewise. Also, power consumption may be reduced.
TIMED SENSE AMPLIFIER CIRCUITS AND METHODS IN A SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY
A memory includes a memory cell, one bitline coupled to the memory cell, a sense amplifier coupled to the one bitline, a timing circuit configured to enable the sense amplifier during a read operation, a control circuit configured to enable the sense amplifier independent of the timing circuit, and a pull-up circuit configured to pull up the one bitline while the sense amplifier is enabled by the control circuit. The method includes enabling a sense amplifier in a read operation by a timing circuit. The sense amplifier is coupled to at least one bitline, and the at least one bitline is coupled to a memory cell. The method further includes enabling the sense amplifier independent of the timing circuit in a second operation and pulling up the at least one bitline by a pull-up circuit while the sense amplifier is enabled in the second operation.
TEST METHOD FOR SELF-REFRESH FREQUENCY OF MEMORY ARRAY AND MEMORY ARRAY TEST DEVICE
Disclosed are a test method for self-refresh frequency of a memory array and a memory array test device. The test method includes: providing a memory array; determining a shortest duration for charge in memory cells of the memory array to leak off, and marking the shortest duration as a first duration; setting an auto-refresh cycle of the memory array according to the first duration, where the auto-refresh cycle is longer than the first duration; performing m tests, where an n.sup.th test includes sequentially performing the following: refresh position count resetting, writing preset data to the memory array, performing a self-refresh having a duration of T.sub.n, performing an auto-refresh having a duration of one auto-refresh cycle, reading the memory array, and recording a read status, where T.sub.n−1<T.sub.n, and 2≤n≤m.
Nonvolatile memory device, storage device including nonvolatile memory devices, and method of training data input and output lines between controller and nonvolatile memory devices
A storage device includes a plurality of nonvolatile memory devices; and a controller connected in common to the plurality of nonvolatile memory devices through data lines, the controller being configured to detect first offset information by performing a first training operation with respect to a first nonvolatile memory device from among the plurality of nonvolatile memory devices, the controller being further configured to, based on the first offset information, perform a second training operation with respect to a second nonvolatile memory device from among the plurality of nonvolatile memory devices.
Row hammer monitoring based on stored row hammer threshold value
Detection logic of a memory subsystem obtains a threshold for a memory device that indicates a number of accesses within a time window that causes risk of data corruption on a physically adjacent row. The detection logic obtains the threshold from a register that stores configuration information for the memory device, and can be a register on the memory device itself and/or can be an entry of a configuration storage device of a memory module to which the memory device belongs. The detection logic determines whether a number of accesses to a row of the memory device exceeds the threshold. In response to detecting the number of accesses exceeds the threshold, the detection logic can generate a trigger to cause the memory device to perform a refresh targeted to a physically adjacent victim row.
Method and apparatus for determining feasibility of memory operating condition change using different back bias voltages
A memory device having at least one output predicting a feasibility of whether the memory device will work properly at a different operating condition including a different supply voltage and/or a different operating frequency than the current supply voltage and/or the current operating frequency. A semiconductor device (e.g. a SoC chip) provides a test to either validate or invalidate the feasibility for the memory device to enter such a different operating condition based on read and write operations of the memory device in normal access cycles. The memory device is partitioned with at least a first memory unit and a second memory unit, which can be coupled to different back-bias voltages. This operating condition predicting function can be enabled or disabled by the semiconductor device in real time operation depending on the feasibility test results.
SIMULTANEOUS WRITE AND READ CALIBRATION OF AN INTERFACE WITHIN A CIRCUIT
To calibrate an electronic circuit, a calibration controller tests the electronic circuit with an initial separate read check allowing for a read delay and with an initial separate write check allowing for a write delay. The calibration controller, responsive to passing the initial read check and the initial write check, for each condition of a range of conditions, iteratively performs a write test with the write delay concurrent with a read test with the read delay on the electronic circuit over the range of conditions while simultaneously adjusting the write delay and adjusting the read delay for each iteration until one or more of a read edge and a write edge are detected.
Connection interface circuit, memory storage device and phase-locked loop circuit calibration method
A phase-locked loop circuit calibration method for a memory storage device including a rewritable non-volatile memory module is provided according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. The method includes: receiving a first signal from a host system; generating a jitter signal by the memory storage device; generating a second signal according to the first signal and the jitter signal; performing a phase-lock operation on the second signal to generate a third signal by a phase-locked loop circuit; and calibrating an electrical parameter of the phase-locked loop circuit according to a variation of a time difference between the first signal and the third signal.