Command triggered power gating for a memory device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022366943-A1
Application number	US-202217873911-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 26, 2022
Priority date	May 28, 2020
Publication date	Nov 17, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for command triggered power gating for a memory device are described. Row logic circuitry for a memory array may be powered up (on) or powered down (off) independent of at least some other components of a memory device. For example, the row logic circuitry may be on when a bank of the memory array is an active state but may be off when the bank is in a stand-by or power-down state. Additionally or alternatively, error correction circuitry for a memory array may be powered up (on) or powered down (off) independent of at least some other components of a memory device. For example, the error correction circuitry may be on during an access portion of an access sequence but may otherwise be off.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
receiving an activate command at a memory device that comprises a memory array; activating, in response to receiving an activate command, row logic circuitry coupled with the memory array and a bank of the memory array, wherein the row logic circuitry is activated based at least in part on a latency associated with activating the row logic circuitry relative to an edge of a clock signal; and performing after activating the bank and the row logic circuitry, an access operation on the bank of the memory array.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a precharge command at the memory device; and deactivating, in response to receiving the precharge command, the row logic circuitry.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
deactivating, in response to receiving the precharge command, the bank of the memory array, wherein the bank of the memory array is active for a first duration and the row logic circuitry is active for a second duration.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the edge of the clock signal is concurrent with the activate command being received.

5 . The method of claim Error! Reference source not found, wherein the edge of the clock signal is a falling edge of the clock signal.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving a second activate command, wherein the row logic circuitry is activated in response to receiving the second activate command.

7 . The method of claim Error! Reference source not found, further comprising:
operating the memory array in a first mode prior to receiving the activate command, wherein the row logic circuitry is deactivated while the memory array is operating in the first mode.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
operating the memory array in a second mode prior to receiving the activate command, wherein row logic circuitry is deactivated while the memory array is operating in the second mode.

9 . A method, comprising:
receiving an access command at a memory device that comprises a memory array; activating, in response to receiving the access command, error correction code circuitry coupled with the memory array; and accessing a bank of the memory array based at least in part on activating the error correction code circuitry.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving a precharge command at the memory device; and deactivating, in response to receiving the precharge command, the error correction code circuitry.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving, prior to the precharge command, an activate command for the bank of the memory array; activating the bank of the memory array based at least in part on receiving the activate command; and deactivating, in response to receiving the precharge command, the bank of the memory array, wherein the bank of the memory array is active for a first duration and the error correction code circuitry is active for a second duration that is different than the first duration.

12 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the access command comprises a write command, the method further comprising:
receiving a set of data associated with the write command; and generating, by the error correction code circuitry, an error correction code for the set of data, wherein accessing the bank comprises storing the error correction code at the bank.

13 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the access command comprises a read command, the method further comprising:
retrieving, from one or more additional memory cells of the memory array, a first set of data associated with the read command; retrieving an error correction code for the first set of data from the memory array, wherein accessing the bank comprises retrieving the error correction code from the bank; and performing, using the error correction code, an error correction operation to generate a second set of data.

14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the error correction code circuitry is activated based at least in part on an edge of a clock signal, and wherein the edge of the clock signal is concurrent with the access command being received.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the edge of the clock signal is a falling edge of the clock signal.

16 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving, at the error correction code circuitry, signaling corresponding to the access command after activating the error correction code circuitry and before accessing the bank of the memory array.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the signaling comprises column redundancy signaling.

18 . An apparatus, comprising:
row logic circuitry; a bank of a memory array, the bank coupled with the row logic circuitry; a first set of power supply nodes configured to have a first voltage differential; a second set of power supply nodes configured to have a second voltage differential and coupled with the row logic circuitry, wherein the second voltage differential is smaller than the first voltage differential; and a controller coupled with the row logic circuitry and the bank, wherein the controller is configured to:
activate, in response to receiving an activate command, the row logic circuitry and the bank, wherein activating the row logic circuitry is based at least in part on coupling one or more of the first set of power supply nodes with one or more of the second set of power supply nodes; and
perform, after activating the bank and the row logic circuitry, an access operation on the bank.

19 . The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the row logic circuitry comprises control logic coupled with one or more sense amplifiers of the bank, and wherein the row logic circuitry is configured to activate the one or more sense amplifiers.

20 . The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the row logic circuitry comprises one or more word line drivers coupled with one or more word lines of the bank, and wherein the row logic circuitry is configured to activate the one or more word lines.

Assignees

• Micron Technology Inc

Inventors

• Akamatsu Hiroshi
• Cho Kwang-Ho

Classifications

• G11C11/4074

  Power supply or voltage generation circuits, e.g. bias voltage generators, substrate voltage generators, back-up power, power control circuits · CPC title

• G06F3/0625

  Power saving in storage systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0679

  Non-volatile semiconductor memory device, e.g. flash memory, one time programmable memory [OTP] · 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

• G06F3/0659

  Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling · CPC title