IP Library › Granted Patent US 9,030,871
Granted Patent B2
US 9,030,871 · App. 13/969,212 · Granted May 12, 2015

Integrated circuit with programmable storage cell array and boot-up operation method thereof

Inventors: Joo-Hyeon Lee (Gyeonggi-do, KR); Jun-Hyun Chun (Gyeonggi-do, KR); Ho-Uk Song (Gyeonggi-do, KR)
Assignee: SK Hynix, Inc.
G11C7/20G11C5/143G11C2029/4402
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,030,871
App. No.
13/969,212
Granted
May 12, 2015
Kind
B2
Abstract

An integrated circuit may include a first programmable storage cell group suitable for storing program validity information, second to N-th programmable storage cell groups suitable for storing a plurality of data, wherein N is an integer equal to or more than 3, and a validity determination unit suitable for determining whether the program validity information read from the first programmable storage cell group is valid or not so that read operations for the second to N-th programmable storage cell groups is performed or skipped based on the determined result.

Claims (17)

1. An integrated circuit comprising:

a first programmable storage cell group suitable for storing program validity information;

second to N-th programmable storage cell groups suitable for storing a plurality of data, wherein N is an integer equal to or more than 3; and

a validity determination unit suitable for determining whether the program validity information read from the first programmable storage cell group is valid or not so that read operations for the second to N-th programmable storage cell groups is performed or skipped based on the determined result.

2. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein when the program validity information determined by the validity determination unit are invalid, the read operations for the second to N-th programmable storage cell groups are skipped.

3. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein when the program validity information are valid, the read operations for the second to N-th programmable storage cell groups are sequentially performed.

4. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the number of programmable storage cells belonging to each of the first to N-th programmable storage cell groups is equal to the number of data to be read in one read operation.

5. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the first to N-th programmable storage cell groups are included in any one of an E-fuse array circuit, a NAND flash memory, a NOR flash memory, a magnetic random access memory, a spin transfer torque magnetic random access memory, a resistive random access memory, and a phase change random access memory.

6. The integrated circuit of claim further comprising:

a row control unit suitable for selecting a programmable storage cell group to be read;

a column control unit suitable for outputting the program validity information or the data from the selected programmable storage cell group;

a control unit suitable for controlling the validity determination unit, the row control unit, and the column control unit in response to a skip signal, wherein the skip signal denotes whether the read operations for the second to N-th programmable storage cell groups are to be performed or skipped and generated by the validity determination unit based on the determination result.

7. An integrated circuit comprising:

a programmable storage cell array having a plurality of cell blocks, wherein each of the cell blocks includes a specified cell page suitable for being programmed with program validity information of the corresponding cell block, and normal cell pages suitable for being programmed with normal information; and

a validity determination unit suitable for reading the program validity information of the corresponding cell block and determining whether to skip read operations for the normal cell pages of the corresponding cell block based on the read program validity information.

8. The integrated circuit of claim 7 , wherein the programmable storage cell array includes an E-fuse array.

9. The integrated circuit of claim 7 , wherein the validity determination unit activates a skip signal for controlling the read operations for the normal cell pages of the corresponding cell block to be skipped, when the read program validity information is invalid.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 18, 2013
From: LEE, JOO-HYEON; CHUN, JUN-HYUN; SONG, HO-UK
To: SK HYNIX INC.
Reel/Frame 031623/0683 →
Priority Claims (1)
KR 10-2013-0042202 · Apr 17, 2013 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20140313841A1 · Oct 23, 2014