IP Library Granted Patent US 10,529,409
Granted Patent B2
US 10,529,409 · App. 15/292,941 · Granted Jan 7, 2020

Apparatuses and methods to perform logical operations using sensing circuitry

Inventors: Harish N. Venkata (Allen, TX); Daniel B. Penney (Wylie, TX)
Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
G11C11/4091G11C11/4087G11C11/4093G11C7/02
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,529,409
App. No.
15/292,941
Granted
Jan 7, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods related to performing logic operations. An example apparatus comprises sensing circuitry including a sense amplifier and a compute component. A controller is coupled to the sensing circuitry and is configured to cause storing of a first operand in a first compute component storage location, transfer of the first operand to a second compute component storage location, and performance of a logical operation between the first operand in the second compute component storage location and a second operand sensed by the sense amplifier.

Claims (45)

1. An apparatus, comprising:

sensing circuitry including a sense amplifier and a compute component;

selection logic circuitry coupled to the sense amplifier via a pair of complementary sense lines and coupled to a first compute component storage location and a second compute component storage location via respective pairs of complementary signal lines; and

a controller coupled to the sensing circuitry and selection logic circuitry and configured to cause:

storing of a first operand in the first compute component storage location;

transfer of the first operand to the second compute component storage location; and

performance of a logical operation between the first operand in the second compute component storage location and a second operand sensed by the sense amplifier.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first compute component storage location and the second compute component storage location each comprise a latch.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sensing circuitry is configured to serve as a single-bit processing element formed on pitch with sense lines of an array of memory cells.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein selection logic circuitry is configured to perform the logical operation.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a voltage corresponding to the first operand incurs a single threshold voltage (Vt) drop prior to being stored in the first compute component storage location.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a voltage corresponding to the first operand incurs a single threshold voltage (Vt) drop when transferred to the second compute component storage location after being stored in the first compute component storage location.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first compute component storage location and the second compute component storage location is coupled to a pair of complementary compute component storage location lines and a complementary pair of storage location lines.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first compute component storage location and the second compute component storage location is coupled to a pair of complementary compute component storage location lines via source/drain regions of a pair of pass transistors.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to cause a result of the logical operation to be transferred to the sense amplifier.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to cause a result of the logical operation to be transferred to the first compute component storage location.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the controller is configured to cause the result of the logical operation to be transferred to the second compute component storage location subsequent to transferring the result of the logical operation to the first compute component storage location.

12. An apparatus, comprising:

sensing circuitry including a sense amplifier and a compute component including selection logic circuitry, wherein the sense amplifier is coupled to the selection logic circuitry via a pair of complementary sense lines, and wherein the selection logic circuitry is coupled to the compute component via two respective pairs of complementary signal lines; and

a controller configured to control the selection logic circuitry to perform a selected logical operation between a first operand stored in the compute component and a second operand sensed by the sense amplifier,

wherein the first operand is stored in a first compute component storage location, wherein the compute component further comprises a second compute component storage location, and wherein the controller is configured to cause enabling of the selection logic circuitry to transfer the first operand from the first compute component storage location to the second compute component storage location.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the selection logic circuitry is configured such that performing the selected logical operation results in only a single threshold voltage (Vt) drop of a voltage corresponding to the operand stored in the compute component.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the selection logic circuitry comprises a plurality of pairs of transistors whose gates are configured to receive a respective plurality of logic selection signals, and

wherein each one of the plurality of pairs of transistors comprises:

a first transistor having a first source/drain region coupled to a first sense line of the complementary pair of sense lines; and

a second transistor having a first source/drain region coupled a complementary sense line of the complementary pair of sense lines.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein a second source/drain region of the first transistor of a first pair of the transistors is coupled to a second source/drain region of a second transistor of a second pair of transistors.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the operand stored in the compute component corresponds to a first operand and the operand stored in the sense amplifier corresponds to a second operand, and wherein the controller is configured to cause:

prior to sensing of the second operand using the sense amplifier, enabling of the selection logic circuitry to transfer the first operand from the sense amplifier to a first compute component storage location.

17. A method, comprising:

operating particular transistors among a plurality of pairs of selection logic transistors associated with selection logic circuitry to load a first operand stored in a memory array to a first compute component storage location, wherein the first compute component storage location is coupled to the selection logic circuitry via a first pair of complementary signal lines, and wherein loading the first operand to the first compute component storage location comprises sensing a second operand using a sense amplifier coupled to the selection logic circuitry via a pair of complementary sense lines;

transferring the first operand from the first compute component storage location to a second compute component storage location prior to sensing the second operand using the sense amplifier, wherein the second compute component storage location is coupled to the selection logic circuitry a second pair of complementary signal lines; and

operating the particular transistors among the plurality of pairs of selection logic transistors to perform a selected logical operation between the first operand and the second operand.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

transferring the first operand from the first compute component storage location to a second compute component storage location; and

performing the selected logical operation between the first operand and the second operand.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein operating the particular transistors among the plurality of pairs of selection logic transistors to load the first operand stored in the memory array to the first compute component storage location comprises:

enabling a signal to a first pair of transistors among the plurality of selection logic transistors; and

disabling a signal to a second pair of transistors among the plurality of selection logic transistors.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein operating the particular transistors among the plurality of pairs of selection logic transistors to load the first operand stored in the memory array to the first compute component storage location comprises operating the particular transistors such that a voltage corresponding to the first operand incurs a single threshold voltage (Vt) drop prior to being loaded into the first compute component storage location.

21. A method, comprising:

operating particular transistors among a plurality of pairs of selection logic transistors associated with selection logic circuitry to load a first operand stored in a memory array to a first compute component storage location, wherein the first compute component storage location is coupled to the selection logic circuitry via a first pair of complementary signal lines, and wherein loading the first operand to the first compute component storage location comprises sensing a second operand using a sense amplifier coupled to the selection logic circuitry via a pair of complementary sense lines;

transferring the first operand from the first compute component storage location to a second compute component storage location;

operating the particular transistors among the plurality of pairs of selection logic transistors to perform a selected logical operation between the first operand and the second operand; and

performing the selected logical operation between the first operand and the second operand.

Assignments (5)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Nov 12, 2019
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.; MICRON SEMICONDUCTOR PRODUCTS, INC.
Reel/Frame 051028/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Oct 9, 2019
From: MORGAN STANLEY SENIOR FUNDING, INC., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Reel/Frame 050680/0268 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 13, 2018
From: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.; MICRON SEMICONDUCTOR PRODUCTS, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 047540/0001 →
SUPPLEMENT NO. 2 TO PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Feb 10, 2017
From: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.
To: MORGAN STANLEY SENIOR FUNDING, INC.
Reel/Frame 041671/0902 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 13, 2016
From: VENKATA, HARISH N.; PENNEY, DANIEL B.
To: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Reel/Frame 040009/0446 →