Semiconductor device including non-volatile memory, a bias current generator and an on-chip termination resistor, method of fabricating the same and method of operating the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10845837-B2
Application number	US-201916273104-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 11, 2019
Priority date	May 8, 2018
Publication date	Nov 24, 2020
Grant date	Nov 24, 2020

Abstract

A semiconductor device includes a voltage generator generating a reference voltage, a first reference current generator receiving the reference voltage and generating a reference current, a non-volatile memory storing a calibration code, a first bias current generator mirroring the reference current to generate a first bias current, and a second bias current generator adjusting the reference current according to the calibration code of the non-volatile memory to generate a second bias current.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A semiconductor device, comprising:
a voltage generator generating a first reference voltage;
an amplifier receiving the first reference voltage and generating a second reference voltage in response to the first reference voltage;
a first reference current generator receiving the second reference voltage and generating a reference current;
a non-volatile memory storing a calibration code;
a first bias current generator receiving the second reference voltage to mirror the reference current to generate a first bias current in response to the second reference voltage; and
a second bias current generator receiving the second reference voltage and generating a second bias current, which is adjusted from the reference current in response to the calibration code of the non-volatile memory and the second reference voltage.

2. The semiconductor device of claim 1 ,
wherein the non-volatile memory includes an electrical fuse, a programmable read-only memory (PROM) or a one-time programmable read-only memory (OTP ROM).

3. The semiconductor device of claim 1 ,
wherein the second bias current generator includes a plurality of calibration transistors arranged in parallel and a plurality of first switches each connected to a corresponding calibration transistor of the plurality of calibration transistors, and
wherein the plurality of first switches are controlled by the calibration code such that a current amount of the second bias current is determined according to the calibration code.

4. The semiconductor device of claim 3 , further comprising:
an on-chip termination resistor including a plurality of unit termination resistors arranged in parallel and a plurality of second switches each connected to a corresponding unit termination resistor,
wherein the plurality of second switches are controlled by the calibration code such that a resistance value of the on-chip termination resistor is determined according to the calibration code, and
wherein the plurality of first switches and the plurality of second switches are controlled by the same calibration code.

5. The semiconductor device of claim 4 ,
wherein a number of the plurality of calibration transistors and a number of the plurality of unit termination resistors are the same.

6. The semiconductor device of claim 5 ,
wherein the calibration code is represented by a plurality of binary bits each of which controls a corresponding first switch of the plurality of first switches and a corresponding second switch of the plurality of second switches.

7. The semiconductor device of claim 4 ,
wherein the second bias current generator further includes a base calibration transistor connected in parallel to the plurality of calibration transistors, and
wherein the on-chip termination resistor further includes a base termination resistor connected in parallel to the plurality of unit termination resistors.

8. The semiconductor device of claim 4 ,
wherein the plurality of calibration transistors have a size in a ratio of a binary-weighted value or each of the plurality of calibration transistors has the same size.

9. The semiconductor device of claim 8 ,
wherein the plurality of unit termination resistors each has a binary-weighted resistance or has the same resistance.

10. The semiconductor device of claim 3 ,
wherein the first bias current generator includes a transistor, a resistor and a first multiplexer,
wherein the first multiplexer includes an output connected to the transistor, a first input connected to the resistor and a second input connected to a peripheral block, and
wherein in a calibration mode, the first multiplexer is controlled to connect the first input to the output so that the reference current is mirrored to generate a first voltage across the resistor and in a normal operating mode, the first multiplexer is controlled to connect the second input to the output so that the first bias current is supplied to the peripheral block.

11. The semiconductor device of claim 10 ,
wherein the resistor is a variable resistor.

12. The semiconductor device of claim 10 , further comprising:
a first connection pad connected to an external resistor on a test board,
wherein the external resistor is, in the calibration mode, connected to the first connection pad and, in the normal operating mode, disconnected to the first connection pad,
wherein the second bias current generator further includes a second multiplexer of which an output is connected to the first switches, a first input is connected to the first connection pad and a second input is connected to the peripheral block, and
wherein in a calibration mode, the second multiplexer is controlled to connect the first input to the output so that the reference current is mirrored to flow through the first connection pad and the external resistor, thereby generating a second voltage across the external resistor and in a normal operating mode, the second multiplexer is controlled to connect the second input to the output so that the second bias current is supplied to the peripheral block.

13. The semiconductor device of claim 12 ,
wherein in the normal operating mode, each of the first switches is selectively turned on according to the calibration code to supply the second bias current to the peripheral block.

14. The semiconductor device of claim 12 , further comprising:
a voltage comparator having a first input connected to a first node between the first multiplexer and the resistor, a second input connected to a second node between the first input of the second multiplexer and the first connection pad and an output generating an output representing a voltage difference between the first node having the first voltage in the calibration mode and the second node having the second voltage in the calibration mode; and
a calibration logic receiving the output from the voltage comparator and generating the calibration code based on the voltage difference.

15. The semiconductor device of claim 14 ,
wherein the first node has the second reference voltage.

16. The semiconductor device of claim 14 ,
wherein the second bias current generator further includes a third multiplexer of which a first input is connected to the first input of the second multiplexer, a second input is connected to the peripheral block and an output is connected to the first connection pad,
wherein the first input of the third multiplexer is further connected to the second input of the voltage comparator, and
wherein in the calibration mode, the third multiplexer connects the first input to the output such that the second node has the second voltage and in the normal operating mode, the third multiplexer connects the second input to the output such that an operating signal for the semiconductor device is transmitted to the peripheral block through the first connection pad.

17. The semiconductor device of claim 16 ,
wherein the operating signal includes a clock signal.

18. The semiconductor device of claim 14 , further comprising:
a register connected to the output of the calibration logic; and
a fourth multiplexer including a first input connected to the calibration logic, a second input connected to the register and an output connected to the peripheral block and the first switches of the second bias current generator.

19. The semiconductor device of claim 18 ,
wherein the register stores the calibration code generated from the calibration logic in the calibration mode and outputs the calibration code stored

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Bae Junhan
• Seong Chang-Kyung
• Shin Jongshin

Classifications

• G11C5/146

  Substrate bias generators (G11C5/141 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G05F3/262

  using field-effect transistors only · CPC title

• G05F3/242

  with compensation for device parameters, e.g. channel width modulation, threshold voltage, processing, or external variations, e.g. temperature, loading, supply voltage · CPC title

• G05F3/205 Primary

  Substrate bias-voltage generators (for static stores G11C5/146) · CPC title

• G05F3/16 Primary

  being semiconductor devices · CPC title