US 7,321,502 B2 | ||
Non volatile data storage through dielectric breakdown | ||
Fabrice Paillet, Hillsboro, Oreg. (US); Ali Keshavarzi, Portland, Oreg. (US); Muhammad M. Khellah, Tigard, Oreg. (US); Dinesh Somasekhar, Portland, Oreg. (US); Yibin Ye, Portland, Oreg. (US); Stephen H. Tang, Pleasanton, Calif. (US); Alavi Mohsen, Portland, Oreg. (US); and Vivek K. De, Beaverton, Oreg. (US) | ||
Assigned to Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif. (US) | ||
Filed on Sep. 30, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/956,285. | ||
Prior Publication US 2006/0071646 A1, Apr. 06, 2006 | ||
Int. Cl. G11C 17/00 (2006.01) |
U.S. Cl. 365—102 [365/94; 365/149; 365/189.09] | 18 Claims |
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a) a capacitor comprising dielectric material, said capacitor being one capacitor amongst an array of capacitors architecturally
arranged into rows and columns;
b) circuitry to provide a first voltage to said capacitor, said first voltage being large enough to cause said dielectric
material to suffer dielectric breakdown;
c) a current source to drive current through said capacitor during said dielectric breakdown to write data into said capacitor;
d) a circuit to read said data when said circuitry provides a second voltage to said capacitor after said dielectric breakdown,
said second voltage inducing a smaller voltage drop across said capacitor than a voltage drop across said capacitor induced
by said first voltage;
e) a node, said node coupled between: i) said capacitor, and, ii) said current source and said circuit;
f) protection circuitry coupled between said node and said capacitor, said protection circuitry to protect said circuit and
said current source from a maximum permissible source-drain voltage induced by said circuitry when it provides said first
voltage, said protection circuitry also having an enable input to control whether said protection circuitry permits an electrically
conductive path between said node and said capacitor;
g) row select logic circuitry coupled to said enable input, said row select logic circuitry to establish, through said enable
input, an electrically conductive path between said node and said capacitor when one of said capacitor's row or column within
said array is selected.
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