Low resistance bitline and sourceline apparatus for improving read and write operations of a nonvolatile memory

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9865322-B2
Application number	US-201615280935-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2016
Priority date	Oct 31, 2013
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

Described is an apparatus for improving read and write margins. The apparatus comprises: a sourceline; a first bitline; a column of resistive memory cells, each resistive memory cell of the column coupled at one end to the sourceline and coupled to the first bitline at another end; and a second bitline in parallel to the first bitline, the second bitline to decouple read and write operations on the bitline for the resistive memory cell. Described is also an apparatus which comprises: a sourceline; a bitline; a column of resistive memory cells, each resistive memory cell in the column coupled at one end to the sourceline and coupled to the bitline at another end; and sourceline write drivers coupled to the bitline and the sourceline, wherein the sourceline write drivers are distributed along the column of resistive memory cells.

First claim

We claim:

1. An apparatus to provide read and write operations, comprising:
a sourceline;
a bitline;
a column of resistive memory cells comprising a first resistive memory cell, a second resistive memory cell coupled to the first resistive memory cell, and a third resistive memory cell coupled to the second resistive memory cell, each of the first resistive memory cell, second resistive memory cell and the third resistive memory cell in the column coupled at one end to the sourceline and coupled to the bitline at another end; and
bitline write drivers comprising a first bitline write driver and a second bitline write driver coupled to the bitline and the sourceline, wherein the bitline write drivers are distributed along the column of resistive memory cells, and wherein the first bitline write driver is between the first resistive memory cell and the second resistive memory cell and the second bitline write driver is between the second resistive memory cell and the third resistive memory cell.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the bitline write drivers comprises a transistor coupled to the bitline and ground or power supply such that a gate terminal of the transistor is coupled to the sourceline.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the bitline write drivers comprises
a first transistor coupled to the bitline and another node, wherein a gate terminal of the first transistor is coupled to the sourceline; and
a second transistor coupled to the other node and ground or power supply, wherein a gate terminal of the second transistor is controllable by write enable.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising
sourceline write drivers coupled to the bitline, wherein the sourceline write drivers are distributed along the column of resistive memory cells.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein each of the sourceline write drivers comprises
a transistor coupled to the sourceline and ground or power supply; and
a resistive element with one end coupled to the bitline, and another end coupled to a gate terminal of the transistor.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein each of the sourceline write drivers comprises
a first transistor coupled to the sourceline and another node;
a second transistor coupled to the other node and ground or power supply, the second transistor controllable by write enable; and
a resistive element with one end coupled to the bitline, and another end coupled to a gate terminal of the first transistor.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the resistive memory cells comprises
a transistor with a source terminal coupled to the sourceline, and a gate terminal coupled to a wordline or a drain terminal of the transistor; and
a resistive element with one end coupled to the bitline, and another end coupled to the drain terminal of the transistor.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the resistive element is at least one of
magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device;
phase change memory (PCM) device; or
resistive ram (ReRAM); conductive bridging ram (CBRAM).

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the transistor is an n-type transistor.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising
a pair of write drivers at an end of a column of memory cells, the pair of drivers coupled to the bitline and the sourceline.

11. A computing system comprising:
a processor;
a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising

a sourceline;
a bitline;
a column of resistive memory cells comprising a first resistive memory cell, a second resistive memory cell coupled to the first resistive memory cell, and a third resistive memory cell coupled to the second resistive memory cell, each of the first resistive memory cell, second resistive memory cell and the third resistive memory cell in the column coupled at one end to the sourceline and coupled to the bitline at another end; and
bitline write drivers comprising a lint bitline write driver and a second bitline write driver coupled to the bitline and the sourceline, wherein the bitline write drivers are distributed along the column of resistive memory cells, and wherein the first bitline write driver is between the first resistive memory cell and the second resistive memory cell and the second bitline write driver is between the second resistive memory cell and the third resistive memory cell;

and
a wireless interface coupled to the processor to communicate with another device.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein each of the bitline write drivers comprises a transistor coupled to the bitline and ground or power supply such that a gate terminal of the transistor is coupled to the sourceline.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein each of the bitline write drivers comprises
a first transistor coupled to the bitline and another node, wherein a gate terminal of the first transistor is coupled to the sourceline; and
a second transistor coupled to the other node and ground or power supply, wherein a gate terminal of the second transistor is controllable by write enable.

14. The system of claim 11 , further comprising
a pair of write drivers at an end of the column of resistive memory cells, the pair of write drivers coupled to the bitline and the sourceline.

15. The system of claim 11 , further comprising
sourceline write drivers coupled to the bitline, wherein the sourceline write drivers are distributed along the column of resistive memory cells.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein each of the sourceline write drivers comprises
a transistor coupled to the sourceline and ground or power supply; and
a resistive element with one end coupled to the bitline, and another end coupled to a gate terminal of the transistor.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein each of the sourceline write drivers comprises
a first transistor coupled to the sourceline and another node;
a second transistor coupled to the other node and ground or power supply, the second transistor controllable by write enable; and
a resistive element with one end coupled to the bitline, and another end coupled to a gate terminal of the first transistor.

18. The system of claim 11 , wherein each of the resistive memory cells comprises
a transistor with a source terminal coupled to the sourceline, and a gate terminal coupled to a wordline or a drain terminal of the transistor; and
a resistive element with one end coupled to the bitline, and another end coupled to the drain terminal of the transistor.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the resistive element is at least one of
magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device;
phase change memory (PCM) device; or
resistive ram (ReRAM); conductive bridging ram (CBRAM).

20. The system of claim 11 , further comprising
a pair of write drivers at an end of a column of memory cells, the pair of drivers coupled to the bitline and the sourceline.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Dray Cyrille
• Lin Blake C
• Hamzaoglu Fatih
• Wei Liqiong
• Wang Yih

Classifications

• G06F3/067

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• G11C11/161

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• G11C11/1697

  Power supply circuits · CPC title

• G11C11/1673

  Reading or sensing circuits or methods · CPC title

• G11C11/1675 Primary

  Writing or programming circuits or methods · CPC title