Self-referencing sensing schemes with coupling capacitance
View Patent ↗Methods, systems, and devices for self-referencing sensing schemes with coupling capacitance are described. A sense component of a memory device may include a capacitive coupling between two nodes of the sense component. The capacitive coupling may, in some examples, be provided by a capacitive element of the sense component or an intrinsic capacitance between features of the sense component. An example of a method employing such a sense component for detecting a logic state stored by a memory cell may include generating a first sense signal at one of the nodes while the node is coupled with the memory cell, and generating a second sense signal at the other of the nodes while the other node is coupled with the memory cell. The sense signals may be based at least in part on the capacitive coupling between the two nodes.
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a memory cell;
an input/output component; and
a sense component coupled with the memory cell and the input/output component, the sense component comprising:
a sense amplifier;
a first node coupled between the sense amplifier and the memory cell; and
a second node coupled between the sense amplifier and the memory cell, wherein the second node is capacitively coupled with the first node,
wherein the sense component is configured to determine a logic state of the memory cell based at least in part on a signal at the first node and a signal at the second node.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sense component further comprises:
a first switching component coupled between the first node and the second node, the first switching component configured to selectively adjust the capacitive coupling of the second node with the first node.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second node is capacitively coupled with the first node through a capacitor element of the sense component.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second node is capacitively coupled with the first node through an intrinsic capacitance between a first amplifier of the sense amplifier and a second amplifier of the sense amplifier, the intrinsic capacitance configured to capacitively couple the first node with the second node.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a second switching component coupled between the memory cell and the first node, the second switching component configured to selectively couple the memory cell with the first node.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a third switching component coupled between the memory cell and the second node, the third switching component configured to selectively couple the memory cell with the second node.
7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first node is capacitively coupled with a ground voltage source.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second node is capacitively coupled with a ground voltage source.
9. A method, comprising:
generating a first sense signal at a first node of a sense amplifier while the first node of the sense amplifier is coupled with a memory cell;
generating a second sense signal at a second node of the sense amplifier while the second node of the sense amplifier is coupled with the memory cell, wherein the second sense signal is based at least in part on the first sense signal and a capacitive coupling between the first node of the sense amplifier and the second node of the sense amplifier; and
determining a logic state stored by the memory cell based at least in part on generating the first sense signal and generating the second sense signal.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining the logic state stored by the memory cell comprises:
comparing a voltage of the first node of the sense amplifier with a voltage of the second node of the sense amplifier.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein generating the second sense signal at the second node of the sense amplifier causes a change in voltage at the first node of the sense amplifier.
12. The method of claim 9 , wherein generating the first sense signal comprises:
building a first charge along an access line that is coupled between the memory cell and the sense amplifier, wherein the first charge is based at least in part on a charge stored at the memory cell, the charge stored at the memory cell corresponding to the logic state stored by the memory cell.
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein generating the first sense signal comprises:
activating a first switching component that is coupled between the first node of the sense amplifier and the memory cell, the first switching component configured to selectively couple the first node of the sense amplifier and the memory cell.
14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
deactivating the first switching component after generating the first sense signal and before generating the second sense signal.
15. The method of claim 9 , wherein generating the second sense signal comprises:
building a second charge along an access line that is coupled between the memory cell and the sense amplifier, wherein the second charge is based at least in part on a charge stored at the memory cell, the charge stored at the memory cell corresponding to a reference state stored by the memory cell.
16. The method of claim 9 , wherein generating the second sense signal comprises:
activating a second switching component that is coupled between the second node of the sense amplifier and the memory cell, the second switching component configured to selectively couple the second node of the sense amplifier and the memory cell.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the second switching component is deactivated during the generating of the first sense signal.
18. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
deactivating a third switching component after generating the second sense signal and before determining the logic state stored by the memory cell, the third switching component coupled between the capacitive coupling and one of the first node of the sense amplifier or the second node of the sense amplifier, and the third switching component configured to selectively couple the capacitive coupling and the one of the first node of the sense amplifier or the second node of the sense amplifier.