Timing based arbiter systems and circuits for ZQ calibration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10090064-B2
Application number	US-201715683439-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2017
Priority date	Dec 30, 2016
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

Systems and apparatuses are provided for an arbiter circuit for timing based ZQ calibration. An example system includes a resistor and a plurality of chips. Each of the plurality of chips further includes a terminal coupled to the resistor, a register storing timing information, and an arbiter circuit configured to determine whether the resistor is available based, at least in part, on the timing information stored in the register. The timing information stored in the register of each respective chip of the plurality of chips is unique to the respective chip among the plurality of chips.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a resistor coupled between a supply voltage and a terminal; and
a chip including an arbiter circuit coupled to the terminal, and the arbiter circuit configured, responsive to a calibration command, to:
start driving the terminal in one of pull up or pull down direction;
stop driving the terminal; and
detect a voltage of the terminal after stopping driving the terminal to determine whether the resistor is available or unavailable.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the supply voltage is higher than a ground voltage and the arbiter circuit configured to start driving the terminal in pull down direction; and
wherein the arbiter circuit configured to determine the resistor is available in response to detection that the voltage of the terminal is higher than a reference voltage between the ground voltage and the supply voltage and determine the resistor is unavailable in response to detection that the voltage of the terminal is lower than the reference voltage.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the supply voltage is a ground voltage and the arbiter circuit configured to start driving the terminal in pull up direction; and
wherein the arbiter circuit configured to determine the resistor is available in response to detection that the voltage of the terminal is lower than a reference voltage between the ground voltage and the supply voltage and to determine the resistor is unavailable in response to detection that the voltage of the terminal is upper than the reference voltage.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the arbiter circuit, when the resistor is determined to be unavailable, further configured to:
start driving the terminal again in the one of pull up and pull down direction;
stop driving the terminal again; and
detect the voltage of the terminal again to determine whether the resistor is available or unavailable.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the chip further includes a calibration circuit coupled to the terminal, and the calibration circuit configured to start a calibration operation with exclusively using the resistor.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an additional chip including an additional arbiter circuit coupled to the terminal, the additional arbiter circuit configured, responsive to the calibration command, to:
start driving the terminal in the one of pull up or pull down direction;
stop driving the terminal; and
detect the voltage of the terminal to determine whether the resistor is available or unavailable.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the arbiter circuit configured to drive the terminal during a first period of time and the additional arbiter circuit configured to drive the terminal during a second period of time different from the first period of time.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the supply voltage is higher than a ground voltage and the additional arbiter circuit configured to start driving the terminal in pull down direction; and
wherein the additional arbiter circuit configured to determine the resistor is available in response to detection that the voltage of the terminal is higher than a reference voltage between the ground voltage and the supply voltage and determine the resistor is unavailable in response to detection that the voltage of the terminal is lower than the reference voltage.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the supply voltage is a ground voltage and the additional arbiter circuit configured to start driving the terminal in pull up direction; and
wherein the additional arbiter circuit configured to determine the resistor is available in response to detection that the voltage of the terminal is lower than a reference voltage between the ground voltage and the supply voltage and determine the resistor is unavailable in response to detection that the voltage of the terminal is upper than the reference voltage.

10. An apparatus comprising:
a controller;
a resistor coupled between a supply voltage and a terminal; and
first and second chips including first and second arbiter circuits coupled in common to the terminal, respectively, and the first and second chips configured to receive a calibration command in common from the controller;
wherein the first arbiter circuit configured, responsive to the calibration command, to drive the terminal in one of pull up or pull down direction during a first period of time; and
wherein the second arbiter circuit configured, responsive to the calibration command, to drive the terminal in the one of pull up or pull down direction during a second period of time longer than the first period of time.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first arbiter circuit configured to stop driving the terminal and detect a voltage of the terminal when the first period of time has elapsed and the second arbiter circuit configured to stop driving the terminal and detect the voltage of the terminal when the second period of time has elapsed.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the first arbiter circuit configured to determine the resistor to be unavailable due to a detected voltage indicating that the second arbiter circuit is still driving the terminal.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the second arbiter circuit configured to determine the resistor to be available due to a detected voltage indicating that each of the first arbiter circuit and the second arbiter circuit has already stopped driving the terminal.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the second chip further includes a first calibration circuit coupled to the terminal, the first calibration circuit configured to start a calibration operation with exclusively using the resistor after the second arbiter circuit determines the resistor to be available.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the first arbiter circuit configured to drive the terminal in the one of pull up or pull down direction again after the first arbiter circuit determines the resistor to be unavailable.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the first arbiter circuit configured to stop driving the terminal again, and then detect a voltage of the terminal again.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the first arbiter circuit configured to determine the resistor to be available due to a detected voltage indicating that each of the first arbiter circuit and the second arbiter circuit has stopped driving the terminal.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the supply voltage is higher than a ground voltage and each of the first arbiter circuit and the second arbiter circuit configured to drive the terminal in pull down direction.

19. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the supply voltage is a ground voltage and each of the first arbiter circuit and the second arbiter circuit configured to drive the terminal in pull up direction.

Assignees

• Micron Technology Inc

Inventors

• Pan Dong

Classifications

• G06F11/348

  Circuit details, i.e. tracer hardware · CPC title

• G11C11/401

  forming cells needing refreshing or charge regeneration, i.e. dynamic cells · CPC title

• G11C29/025

  in signal lines · CPC title

• G11C5/147

  Voltage reference generators, voltage or current regulators; Internally lowered supply levels; Compensation for voltage drops (G11C5/141 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G11C8/10

  Decoders · CPC title