Extracting the resistor-capacitor time constant of an electronic circuit line

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11205338-B2
Application number	US-201916721098-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2019
Priority date	Dec 19, 2019
Publication date	Dec 21, 2021
Grant date	Dec 21, 2021

Abstract

A resistor-capacitor (RC) sensor circuit of an electronic device is driven to a drive voltage using a representative copy of a current that drives an electronic circuit line of the electronic device. The RC sensor circuit is to sample voltages that are indicative of an RC time constant of the electronic circuit line. A first sample voltage is determined by sampling a first representative voltage generated at the RC sensor circuit by driving the RC sensor circuit with the representative copy of the current over a first time period. A second sample voltage is determined by sampling a second representative voltage generated at the RC sensor circuit by driving the RC sensor circuit with the representative copy of the current over a second time period. A ratio of the first sample voltage and the second sample voltage is indicative of the RC time constant of the electronic circuit line.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
driving a resistor-capacitor (RC) sensor circuit of an electronic device to a drive voltage using a representative copy of a current that drives an electronic circuit line of the electronic device, the RC sensor circuit configured to sample voltages that are indicative of an RC time constant of the electronic circuit line;
determining a first sample voltage by sampling a first representative voltage generated at the RC sensor circuit, wherein sampling the first representative voltage comprises driving the RC sensor circuit with the representative copy of the current over a first time period; and
determining a second sample voltage by sampling a second representative voltage generated at the RC sensor circuit, wherein sampling the second representative voltage comprises driving the RC sensor circuit with the representative copy of the current over a second time period, and wherein a ratio of the first sample voltage and the second sample voltage is indicative of the RC time constant of the electronic circuit line.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing an operation at the electronic circuit line of the electronic device using an operating voltage selected from a plurality of operating voltages, the operating voltage selected based on the ratio that is indicative of the RC time constant.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
integrating the representative copy of the current at an integration capacitor of the RC sensor circuit over the first time period to generate the first representative voltage.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining the first sample voltage by sampling the first representative voltage generated at the RC sensor circuit, comprises:
amplifying the first representative voltage at the integration capacitor to generate the first sample voltage at a sampling capacitor of the RC sensor circuit.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
integrating the representative copy of the current at the integration capacitor of the RC sensor circuit over the second time period to generate the second representative voltage; and
wherein determining the second sample voltage by sampling the second representative voltage generated at the RC sensor circuit comprises amplifying the second representative voltage at the integration capacitor to generate the second sample voltage at the sampling capacitor of the RC sensor circuit.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
driving, concurrently with driving the RC sensor circuit, the electronic circuit line of the electronic device to the drive voltage using the current.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ratio is mapped to a trim voltage selected to drive the electronic circuit line in view of the RC time constant of the electronic circuit line.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the electronic circuit line comprises a wordline of a memory device, wherein the trim voltage is selected to drive the wordline in a performance of a memory operation.

9. The method of claim 1 , the first sample voltage converted to a first digital code representing the first sample voltage, the second sample voltage converted to a second digital code representing the second sample voltage, and wherein the ratio of the first sample voltage and the second sample voltage is determined using the first digital code and the second digital code.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electronic circuit line comprises a first end and a second end that is opposite the first end, a driver circuit coupled to the first end to drive the second end to the drive voltage using the current, and wherein the second end in inaccessible for measurement of the drive voltage.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, responsive to execution by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:
driving, by the processing device, a resistor-capacitor (RC) sensor circuit of an electronic device to a drive voltage using a representative copy of a current that drives an electronic circuit line of the electronic device, the RC sensor circuit configured to sample voltages that are indicative of an RC time constant of the electronic circuit line;
determining a first sample voltage by sampling a first representative voltage generated at the RC sensor circuit, wherein sampling the first representative voltage comprises driving the RC sensor circuit with the representative copy of the current over a first time period; and
determining a second sample voltage by sampling a second representative voltage generated at the RC sensor circuit, wherein sampling the second representative voltage comprises driving the RC sensor circuit with the representative copy of the current over a second time period, and a ratio of the first sample voltage and the second sample voltage indicative of the RC time constant of the electronic circuit line.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising:
performing an operation at the electronic circuit line of the electronic device using an operating voltage selected from a plurality of operating voltages, wherein the operating voltage is selected based on the ratio that is indicative of the RC time constant.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising:
integrating the representative copy of the current at an integration capacitor of the RC sensor circuit over the first time period to generate the first representative voltage.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein determining the first sample voltage by sampling the first representative voltage generated at the RC sensor circuit, comprises:
16amplifying the first representative voltage at the integration capacitor to generate the first sample voltage at a sampling capacitor of the RC sensor circuit.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising:
integrating the representative copy of the current at the integration capacitor of the RC sensor circuit over the second time period to generate the second representative voltage; and
wherein determining the second sample voltage by sampling the second representative voltage generated at the RC sensor circuit comprises amplifying the second representative voltage at the integration capacitor to generate the second sample voltage at the sampling capacitor of the RC sensor circuit.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising:
driving, concurrently with driving the RC sensor circuit, the electronic circuit line of the electronic device to the drive voltage using the current.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the ratio is mapped to a trim voltage that is selected to drive the electronic circuit line in view of the RC time constant of the electronic circuit line, wherein the electronic circuit line comprises a first end and a second end that is opposite the first end, a driver circuit coupled to the first end to drive the second end to the drive voltage using the current, and wherein the second end in inaccessible for measurement of the drive voltage.

18. A system comprising:
a memory device; and
a processing device, coupled to the memory device, to:
drive a resistor-capacitor (RC) sensor circuit to a drive voltage using a representative copy of a current that drives an electronic circuit line of the memory device, wherein the RC sensor circuit is configured to sample voltages

Assignees

• Micron Technology Inc

Inventors

• Chiang Pin-Chou
• Piccardi Michele
• Pekny Theodore T

Classifications

• G11C29/028

  with adaption or trimming of parameters · CPC title

• G11C29/50008

  of impedance · CPC title

• G11C27/026

  associated with an amplifier (G11C27/028 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G11C29/026

  in sense amplifiers · CPC title

• G11C29/024

  in decoders · CPC title