Method and system for pre-charging and biasing a latch-type sense amplifier

1. A sense amplifier, comprising:

cross-coupled inverters forming a data latch having one or more output nodes, at least two input nodes, and one or more nodes connected to a power supply;

a pair of complementary bit-lines connected to the input nodes of the data latch via bias control transistors, the bias control transistors to pre-charge the input nodes based on a voltage level of the bit-lines so as to bias the voltage level at the input nodes in a direction the input nodes will seek upon activation of the sense amplifier, wherein a sense amplifier activation signal connects directly to gate terminals of the bias control transistors and a gate terminal of a ground isolation transistor.

2. The sense amplifier of claim 1 , wherein the bias control transistors are p-type MOSFETs.

3. The sense amplifier of claim 1 , wherein activation of the sense amplifier occurs when a sense amplifier enable signal is asserted.

4. The sense amplifier of claim 1 , wherein the bias control transistors are coupled to a sense amplifier enable signal, and the bias control transistors are enabled when the sense amplifier signal is in a low voltage state and disabled when the sense amplifier enable signal is in a high voltage state.

5. The sense amplifier of claim 4 , wherein a ground control transistor is enabled when the sense amplifier signal is in a high voltage state so as to form a path to ground for the sense amplifier.

6. A machine-readable medium storing data and executable instructions, which when executed by a machine to cause the machine to generate a representation of the sense amplifier of claim 1 .

7. The machine-readable medium of claim 6 storing a memory compiler to provide a design for one or more lithographic masks used in fabricating a memory device including the sense amplifier.

8. A method for performing a sense operation, the method comprising:

pre-charging complementary bit-lines coupled to a particular memory cell;

enabling bias control transistors with a sense amplifier enable signal to allow input nodes of a latch-type sense amplifier to be pre-charged based on voltage levels present on the complementary bit-lines so as to bias voltage levels at the input nodes in a direction the input nodes will seek upon activation of the sense amplifier;

asserting the sense amplifier enable signal, the assertion of the sense amplifier enable signal disabling the bias control transistors and causing the sense amplifier circuit to be activated so as to latch a logical data value based on a voltage differential that develops at the input nodes; and

deasserting the sense amplifier enable signal to precharge the complementary bit-lines.

9. A machine-readable medium storing data and executable instructions, which when executed by a machine to cause the machine to generate a representation of a sense amplifier to perform the method of claim 8 .

10. The machine-readable medium of claim 9 storing a memory compiler to provide a design for one or more lithographic masks used in fabricating a memory device including the sense amplifier to perform the method.