U.S. patent application number 16/553890 was filed with the patent office on 2021-03-04 for voltage and temperature adaptive memory leakage reduction bias circuit.
The applicant listed for this patent is Mentor Graphics Corporation. Invention is credited to Kwan Him Lam.
Application Number | 20210065821 16/553890 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000005399745 |
Filed Date | 2021-03-04 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20210065821 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lam; Kwan Him |
March 4, 2021 |
Voltage and Temperature Adaptive Memory Leakage Reduction Bias
Circuit
Abstract
This application discloses a memory device to retain stored data
when receiving a voltage supply having at least a retention voltage
level. The retention voltage level varies based on a supply voltage
and a temperature of an environment around the memory device. A
sensitive circuit can adjust the voltage supply received by the
memory device based on the supply voltage and the temperature. The
sensitive circuit can alter a memory bias supply voltage for the
memory device to adjust the voltage supply towards the retention
voltage level. The sensitive circuit can include a temperature
dependent circuit to generate a bias voltage based on the supply
voltage and the temperature, and an adjustment circuit to alter the
memory bias supply voltage based on the bias voltage. The
adjustment circuit also can include high temperature circuitry to
adjust the memory bias supply voltage based on a leakage current
from the memory device.
Inventors: |
Lam; Kwan Him; (Irvine,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Mentor Graphics Corporation |
Wilsonville |
OR |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000005399745 |
Appl. No.: |
16/553890 |
Filed: |
August 28, 2019 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G11C 5/148 20130101;
G11C 2029/5006 20130101; G11C 29/021 20130101; G11C 11/41 20130101;
G11C 16/30 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G11C 16/30 20060101
G11C016/30; G11C 29/02 20060101 G11C029/02; G11C 5/14 20060101
G11C005/14; G11C 11/41 20060101 G11C011/41 |
Claims
1. A system comprising: a memory device configured to retain stored
data when receiving a voltage supply having at least a retention
voltage level that varies based on a memory supply voltage and a
temperature of an environment around the memory device; and a
sensitive circuit configured to adjust the voltage supply received
by the memory device based on the memory supply voltage and the
temperature of the environment.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the voltage supply corresponds to
a difference between the memory supply voltage and a memory bias
supply voltage associated with the memory device, and wherein the
sensitive circuit is configured to alter the memory bias supply
voltage to adjust a voltage level of the voltage supply towards the
retention voltage level.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein the sensitive circuit further
comprising: a temperature dependent circuit configured to generate
a bias voltage based, at least in part, on the temperature of the
environment; and an adjustment circuit configured to alter the
memory bias supply voltage based on the bias voltage.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the adjustment circuit further
comprises: pulldown circuitry to alter the memory bias supply
voltage based, at least in part, on a feedback voltage; and
feedback circuitry configured to set a voltage level of the
feedback voltage based, at least in part, on the bias voltage from
the temperature dependent circuit.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the adjustment circuit further
comprises leakage current bias circuitry configured to generate a
leakage current bias voltage based on the memory supply voltage,
wherein the feedback circuitry is configured to set the feedback
voltage to leakage current bias voltage based on the bias voltage
from the temperature dependent circuit.
6. The system of claim 4, wherein the feedback circuitry is
configured to set the feedback voltage to a voltage level
corresponding to the memory bias supply voltage based on the bias
voltage from the temperature dependent circuit.
7. The system of claim 4, wherein the adjustment circuit further
comprises high temperature circuitry coupled to the pulldown
circuitry, wherein the high temperature circuitry is configured to
increase the memory bias supply voltage based on a leakage current
from the memory device.
8. A method comprising: receiving, by a memory device, a voltage
supply having at least a retention voltage level that varies based
on a memory supply voltage and a temperature of an environment
around the memory device utilizing, by the memory device, the
voltage supply to retain stored data; and adjusting the voltage
supply received by the memory device based on the memory supply
voltage and the temperature of the environment.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the voltage supply corresponds to
a difference between the memory supply voltage and a memory bias
supply voltage associated with the memory device, and further
comprising altering the memory bias supply voltage to adjust a
voltage level of the voltage supply towards the retention voltage
level.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein altering the memory bias supply
voltage to adjust the voltage level of the voltage supply further
comprises reducing the memory bias supply voltage based on a
leakage current from the memory device and the temperature of the
environment.
11. The method of claim 9, further comprising generating a bias
voltage based, at least in part, on the temperature of the
environment, wherein altering the memory bias supply voltage to
adjust the voltage level of the voltage supply is performed based
on the bias voltage.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein altering the memory bias supply
voltage to adjust the voltage level of the voltage supply further
comprises: setting a voltage level of a feedback voltage based, at
least in part, on the bias voltage; and altering the memory bias
supply voltage based, at least in part, on the feedback
voltage.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein altering the memory bias supply
voltage to adjust the voltage level of the voltage supply further
comprises: generating a leakage current bias voltage based on the
memory supply voltage; and setting the feedback voltage to leakage
current bias voltage based on the bias voltage.
14. The method of claim 12, wherein altering the memory bias supply
voltage to adjust the voltage level of the voltage supply further
comprises setting the voltage level of the feedback voltage to
correspond to the memory bias supply voltage based on the bias
voltage.
15. A device comprising: a temperature dependent circuit configured
to generate a bias voltage based, at least in part, on a supply
voltage and an environmental temperature; and an adjustment circuit
configured to alter a voltage supply for an electronic device based
on the bias voltage, wherein the adjustment circuit includes
pulldown circuitry to alter a bias supply voltage associated with
the voltage supply for the electronic device based, at least in
part, on a feedback voltage, and feedback circuitry configured to
set a voltage level of the feedback voltage based, at least in
part, on the bias voltage from the temperature dependent
circuit.
16. The device of claim 15, wherein the voltage supply corresponds
to a difference between the supply voltage provided to the
electronic device and the bias supply voltage associated with the
electronic device, and wherein the adjustment circuit is configured
to alter the bias supply voltage to adjust the voltage supply.
17. (canceled)
18. The device of claim 15, wherein the adjustment circuit further
comprises leakage current bias circuitry configured to generate a
leakage current bias voltage based on the supply voltage, wherein
the feedback circuitry is configured to set the feedback voltage to
the leakage current bias voltage based on the bias voltage from the
temperature dependent circuit.
19. The device of claim 15, wherein the feedback circuitry is
configured to set the feedback voltage to a voltage level
corresponding to the bias supply voltage based on the bias voltage
from the temperature dependent circuit.
20. The device of claim 15, wherein the adjustment circuit further
comprises high temperature circuitry coupled to the pulldown
circuitry, wherein the high temperature circuitry is configured to
reduce the bias supply voltage based on a leakage current from the
memory device.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] This application is generally related to integrated circuits
and, more specifically, to voltage and temperature adaptive memory
leakage reduction bias current.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Integrated circuits, such as memory devices, dissipate power
due to device leakage. When products including the integrated
circuits are powered by batteries, such as mobile devices, the
power dissipation due to device leakage reduces battery life.
[0003] A magnitude of the device leakage and thus the power
dissipation can correspond to a voltage supply provided to the
integrated circuits. Since memory devices can have an active mode,
for example, when performing read operations or write operations,
which consumes more power than an inactive mode, for example,
retaining stored data, many electronic devices incorporating the
memory devices can lower the voltage supply provided to the memory
devices during the inactive mode. Many electronic devices lower the
voltage supply to a fixed voltage level at or above a retention
voltage level of the memory devices. The retention voltage level
can correspond to a minimum supply voltage that allows the memory
devices to retain stored data without data corruption due to
inadequate voltage supply.
[0004] Since the retention voltage level of the memory devices can
vary based on a temperature in an environment around the memory
devices, the fixed voltage level of the voltage supply in the
inactive mode may be higher than retention voltage level leading to
excessive current leakage and power dissipation. Some electronic
devices incorporating the memory devices can attempt to adjust the
power supply according to temperature changes by incorporating a
voltage regulator with temperature sensor. The voltage regulator
and temperature sensor, however, consume die area and power to
perform the power supply adjustment, which reduces or eliminates
the potential power consumption savings by varying the voltage
supply to the memory devices. Environmental temperature also can
often be non-uniform across an integrated circuit, memory devices,
or electronic devices, leading designers of the electronic devices
to incorporate multiple voltage regulators and multiple temperature
sensors to adjust the power supply based on local temperature
variations.
SUMMARY
[0005] This application discloses a memory device configured to
retain stored data when receiving a voltage supply having at least
a retention voltage level. The retention voltage level for the
memory device can correspond to a minimum level of voltage the
memory device can receive and still retain the stored data. The
retention voltage level can vary based on a temperature of an
environment around the memory device. As the temperature changes in
the environment around the memory device, the retention voltage
level of the memory device also changes.
[0006] A temperature sensitive circuit can adjust the voltage
supply received by the memory device to correspond to the retention
voltage based on a supply voltage provided to the memory device and
the temperature of the environment. The temperature sensitive
circuit can alter a memory bias supply voltage for the memory
device to adjust the retention voltage level of the voltage supply.
The temperature sensitive circuit can include a temperature
dependent circuit to generate a bias voltage based on the supply
voltage provided to the memory device and the temperature of the
environment, and an adjustment circuit to alter the memory bias
supply voltage based on the bias voltage. The adjustment circuit
also can include high temperature circuitry to adjust the memory
bias supply voltage based on a leakage current from the memory
device. Embodiments will be described in greater detail below.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 illustrates an example memory system having
temperature sensitive circuitry according to embodiments.
[0008] FIG. 2A illustrates an example of temperature sensitive
circuitry used to control a voltage supply for a memory system
according to embodiments.
[0009] FIG. 2B illustrates another example of temperature sensitive
circuitry used to control a voltage supply for a memory system
according to embodiments.
[0010] FIG. 3 illustrates an example flowchart to control a voltage
supply for a memory system with temperature sensitive circuitry
according to embodiments.
[0011] FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate example operation of temperature
sensitive circuitry in different environments according to
embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0012] Memory System with Adaptive Voltage and Temperature Supply
Control
[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates an example memory system 100 having
temperature sensitive circuit 120 according to embodiments.
Referring to FIG. 1, a memory system 100 can include a memory
device 110 having one or more memory cells configured to store
data. In some embodiments, the memory device 110 can be a Static
Random Access Memory (SRAM) device, Dynamic Random Access Memory
(DRAM) device, or the like, which utilizes a voltage supply to
perform memory access operations, such reading or writing data to
the memory cells, and to retain stored data in the memory cells.
The voltage supply can correspond to a difference between a memory
supply voltage (VDD) 101 and a memory bias supply voltage 102.
[0014] The memory device 110 can perform the memory access
operations in an active mode using a voltage supply that is higher
than when the memory device is retaining stored data in an inactive
mode. The memory device 110 can operate in the inactive mode to
retain stored data when provided a voltage supply having at least a
retention voltage level. The retention voltage level can correspond
to a voltage level capable of allowing the memory device 110 to
continue to store the data without corruption due to a lack of an
adequate supply voltage.
[0015] Since the voltage level of the voltage supply can correlate
to a magnitude of a leakage current exiting the memory device 110,
which corresponds to power consumption by the memory device 110,
the memory system 100 can reduce the voltage supply to the memory
device 110 towards the retention voltage level when retaining the
stored data as opposed to performing memory access operations.
[0016] The retention voltage level for the memory device 110 can
vary based on an environmental temperature, for example, the
retention voltage level can become lower when the temperature of
the environment increases. The memory system 100 can include a
temperature sensitive circuit 120 to adjust the voltage supply to
the memory device 110 based on the temperature of the environment.
In some embodiments, the temperature sensitive circuit 120 can
alter the memory bias supply voltage 102 based on the temperature
of the environment, which can adjust the voltage supply to the
memory device 110.
[0017] The temperature sensitive circuit 120 can include a
temperature dependent circuit 121 to generate a bias voltage based
on the memory supply voltage (VDD) 101 and the temperature of the
environment. In some embodiments, the temperature dependent circuit
121 can detect a voltage level of the memory supply voltage (VDD)
101 and the temperature of the environment, and generate a bias
voltage from the memory supply voltage (VDD) 101 and the detected
temperature of the environment to generate the bias voltage. For
example, when the environment corresponds to a colder temperature,
the temperature dependent circuit 121 can reduce the bias voltage
towards zero. When the environment corresponds to a warmer
temperature, the temperature dependent circuit 121 can increase the
bias voltage relative to the voltage level associated with the
environment having the colder temperature.
[0018] The temperature sensitive circuit 120 can include an
adjustment circuit 122 to receive the bias voltage from the
temperature dependent circuit 121 and alter the memory bias supply
voltage 102 based on the bias voltage. For example, when the bias
voltage from the temperature dependent circuit 121 corresponds to a
lower voltage level, the adjustment circuit 122 can utilize the
bias voltage to reduce the memory bias supply voltage 102, which
increases the voltage supply across the memory device 110. When the
bias voltage from the temperature dependent circuit 121 corresponds
to a higher voltage level, the adjustment circuit 122 can utilize
the bias voltage to increase the memory bias supply voltage 102,
which reduces the voltage supply for the memory device 110. These
increases and reductions of the voltage supply by the temperature
sensitive circuit 120 can correspond to the variations in the
retention voltage level due to changes in the temperature of the
environment. Embodiments of adaptive voltage control with
temperature sensitive circuitry will be described below in greater
detail.
[0019] In some embodiments, the temperature sensitive circuit 120
can utilize the temperature dependent circuit 121 and the
adjustment circuit 122 to compensate for variations in the memory
supply voltage (VDD) 101. Since changes in the memory supply
voltage (VDD) 101 could alter the voltage supply to the memory
device 110, the temperature sensitive circuit 120 can adjust the
memory bias supply voltage 102 based on changes to the memory
supply voltage (VDD) 101 to at least in part avoid variations of
the voltage supply to the memory device 110 due to the changes to
the memory supply voltage (VDD) 101.
[0020] Adaptive Voltage Control with Temperature Sensitive
Circuitry
[0021] FIG. 2A illustrates an example of temperature sensitive
circuitry 200 used to control a voltage supply for a memory system
according to embodiments. Referring to FIG. 2A, the temperature
sensitive circuitry 200 can include temperature dependent circuitry
231 to generate a bias voltage 235 based on a memory supply voltage
(VDD) 201 and a temperature of an environment around the memory
system. For example, when the environment has a colder temperature
or a lower voltage level for the memory supply voltage (VDD) 201,
the temperature dependent circuitry 231 can generate the bias
voltage 235 with a lower voltage level than when the environment
has a warmer temperature or a higher voltage level for memory
supply voltage (VDD) 201.
[0022] In some embodiments, the temperature dependent circuitry 231
can include one or more diode circuits to control the bias voltage
235. For example, the temperature dependent circuitry 231 can
include a diode-connected P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (PMOS)
transistor coupled to in series with the memory supply voltage
(VDD) 201 and a series-connected pair of diode-connected N-type
metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS) transistors. The number of diode
circuits and the types of diode circuits utilized as the
temperature dependent circuitry 231 can be based on a magnitude of
the voltage drop from the memory supply voltage (VDD) 201 to the
bias voltage 235, the threshold voltages for the diode circuits,
the temperature sensitivity of the diode circuits, or the like.
[0023] The temperature sensitive circuitry 200 can include current
source circuitry 232 coupled between the temperature dependent
circuitry 231 and a source voltage VSS 203. The current source
circuitry 232 can have a high impedance, which can induce a small
amount of current relative to the voltage drop across the current
source circuitry 232. By inducing a small amount of current
relative to the voltage drop across the current source circuitry
232, the current source circuitry 232 can allow the circuitry in
the temperature dependent circuitry 231 to dictate the voltage
level of the bias voltage 235. In some embodiments, the current
source circuitry 232 can be an N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor
(NMOS) transistor having a low voltage on a gate, which can place
the NMOS transistor in an "off" state with a small amount of
current flowing due to the difference in voltage between the bias
voltage 235 and the source voltage (VSS) 203.
[0024] The temperature sensitive circuitry 200 can include leakage
current bias circuitry 221, feedback circuitry 222, and pulldown
circuitry 223 that can work in combination to adjust the memory
bias supply voltage 202 based on a voltage level of the bias
voltage 235. The leakage current bias circuitry 221 can be coupled
between the memory supply voltage (VDD) 201 and the feedback
circuitry 222. In some embodiments, the leakage current bias
circuitry 221 can have a high impedance, which can induce a small
amount of current relative to the voltage drop across the leakage
current bias circuitry 221. By inducing a small amount of current
relative to the voltage drop across the leakage current bias
circuitry 221, the leakage current bias circuitry 221 can allow the
feedback circuitry 222 to dictate the voltage level of the feedback
voltage 226. In some embodiments, the leakage current bias
circuitry 221 can be a P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (PMOS)
transistor having a high voltage on a gate, which can place the
PMOS transistor in an "off" state with current flowing due to the
difference in voltage between the memory supply voltage (VDD) 201
and the feedback voltage 226.
[0025] The feedback circuitry 222 can be coupled between the
leakage current bias circuitry 221 and the pulldown circuitry 223.
The feedback circuitry 222 can receive the bias voltage 235 from
the temperature sensitive circuitry 231 and set a feedback voltage
226 to a voltage level based, at least in part, on a voltage level
of the bias voltage 235. In some embodiments, the feedback
circuitry 222 can be an N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS)
transistor, which can be in an "off" state when the bias voltage
235 has a low voltage level and in an "on" state when the bias
voltage 235 has a high voltage level.
[0026] The pulldown circuitry 223 can be coupled between the
feedback circuitry 222. And the source voltage (VSS) 203. The
pulldown circuitry 223 can adaptively adjust the memory bias supply
voltage 202 based on the feedback voltage 226, for example,
reducing the memory bias supply voltage 202 by a magnitude based on
a voltage level of the feedback voltage 226. In some embodiments,
the pulldown circuitry 223 can be an N-type
metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS) transistor that receives the
feedback voltage 226 at its gate. Embodiments of the operation of
temperature sensitive voltage adaptive circuitry will be described
below in greater detail.
[0027] FIG. 2B illustrates another example of temperature sensitive
circuitry 210 used to control a voltage supply for a memory system
according to embodiments. Referring to FIG. 2B, a temperature
sensitive circuitry 210 can be similar to the temperature sensitive
circuitry 200 described above with reference to FIG. 2A with the
addition of high temperature circuitry 224 coupled between the
pulldown circuitry 223 and the source voltage (VSS) 203. The high
temperature circuitry 224, in a warmer or hot temperature
environment, can induce a current to raise a voltage level of the
memory bias supply voltage 202 and the feedback voltage 226
compared to the voltage level of the memory bias supply voltage 202
set by temperature sensitive circuitry 200 in the same environment.
This increase in the memory bias supply voltage 202 can reduce the
voltage supply to the memory device. Embodiments of the operation
of temperature sensitive voltage adaptive circuitry with the high
temperature circuitry will be described below in greater
detail.
[0028] FIG. 3 illustrates an example flowchart to control a voltage
supply for a memory system with temperature sensitive voltage
adaptive circuitry according to embodiments. Referring to FIG. 3,
in a block 301, a memory device can receive a voltage supply having
at least a retention voltage level that varies based on a
temperature of an environment around the memory device. In a block
302, the memory device can utilize the voltage supply to retain
stored data. The memory device can include one or more memory cells
configured to store data. In some embodiments, the memory device
can be a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) device, Dynamic Random
Access Memory (DRAM) device, or the like, which utilizes a voltage
supply to perform memory access operations, such reading or writing
data to the memory cells, and to retain stored data in the memory
cells. The voltage supply can correspond to a difference between a
memory supply voltage and a memory bias supply voltage. The
retention voltage level can correspond to a voltage level capable
of allowing the memory device to continue to store the data without
corruption due to a lack of an adequate supply voltage. The
retention voltage level for the memory device can vary based on an
environmental temperature, for example, the retention voltage level
can become lower when the temperature of the environment
increases.
[0029] In a block 303, a temperature sensitive circuit can generate
a bias voltage based on the temperature and voltage supply of the
environment. In some embodiments, the temperature dependent circuit
can reduce the memory supply voltage by a magnitude correlated to
the temperature of the environment to generate the bias voltage.
For example, when the environment corresponds to a colder
temperature, the temperature dependent circuit can reduce the bias
voltage towards zero. When the environment corresponds to a warmer
temperature, the temperature dependent circuit can increase the
bias voltage relative to the voltage level associated with the
environment having the colder temperature.
[0030] In a block 304, the temperature sensitive circuit can set a
voltage level of a feedback voltage based on the bias voltage. In a
colder temperature environment, the bias voltage can have a low
voltage level, for example, near zero voltage. The temperature
sensitive circuit can set the feedback voltage to a high voltage
level in response to the bias voltage. In a hot temperature
environment, the bias voltage can have a high voltage level
relative to the bias voltage generated in a colder temperature
environment. The temperature sensitive circuit can set to the
feedback voltage to a voltage level correlated to the memory bias
supply voltage in response to the bias voltage. In some
embodiments, the high voltage level of the bias voltage can
effectively short circuit a portion of the temperature sensitive
circuit, resulting in the feedback voltage and the memory bias
supply voltage having a similar voltage level.
[0031] In a block 305, the temperature sensitive circuit can alter
the memory bias supply voltage based on the feedback voltage, which
adjusts the voltage supply towards the retention voltage level.
Since the voltage level of the voltage supply can correlate to a
magnitude of a leakage current exiting the memory device, which
corresponds to power consumption by the memory device, the
temperature sensitive circuit can reduce the voltage supply to the
memory device towards the retention voltage level.
[0032] The temperature sensitive circuit can reduce the memory bias
supply voltage in response to the feedback voltage, which can
increase the voltage supply to a memory device. When the
temperature sensitive circuit sets the feedback voltage to the
memory bias supply voltage, for example, in a hot temperature
environment, the increase of current from the memory can be used to
reset the feedback voltage, and the temperature sensitive circuit
can reduce the memory bias supply voltage based on the reset
feedback voltage. This iterative reduction of the memory bias
supply voltage through the feedback process can continue until a
steady state for the memory bias supply voltage has been
reached.
[0033] Example Temperature Sensitive Circuitry Operation in
Different Environments
[0034] FIG. 4A illustrates an example operation of temperature
sensitive voltage adaptive circuitry 400 in a cold environment
according to embodiments. Referring to FIG. 4A, the temperature
sensitive voltage adaptive circuitry 400 can include leakage
current bias circuitry 421, feedback circuitry 422, and pulldown
circuitry 423 that can be configured similarly to the leakage
current bias circuitry 221, the feedback circuitry 222, and the
pulldown circuitry 223 described above with reference to FIGS. 2A
and 2B. The leakage current bias circuitry 421, the feedback
circuitry 422, and the pulldown circuitry 423 can work in
combination to adjust the memory bias supply voltage 402 based on a
voltage level of the bias voltage 435.
[0035] In a colder temperature environment, the bias voltage 435
can have a low voltage level, for example, near zero voltage. The
feedback circuitry 422 can set the feedback voltage 426 to a high
voltage level in response to the bias voltage 435. The feedback
circuitry 422, in response to the bias voltage 435, can set the
feedback voltage 426 to the high voltage level generated by the
leakage current bias circuitry 421. The pulldown circuitry 423 can
adjust the memory bias supply voltage 402 based on the high voltage
level of the feedback voltage 426. For example, the pulldown
circuitry 423 can reduce the memory bias supply voltage 402 in
response to the feedback voltage 426, which can increase the
voltage supply to a memory device.
[0036] FIG. 4B illustrates an example operation of temperature
sensitive voltage adaptive circuitry 410 in a hot environment
according to embodiments. Referring to FIG. 4B, the temperature
sensitive voltage adaptive circuitry 410 can include leakage
current bias circuitry 421, feedback circuitry 422, pulldown
circuitry 423, and high temperature circuitry 424 that can be
configured similarly to the leakage current bias circuitry 221, the
feedback circuitry 222, the pulldown circuitry 223, and the high
temperature circuitry 224 described above with reference to FIGS.
2A and 2B. The leakage current bias circuitry 421, the feedback
circuitry 422, the pulldown circuitry 423, and the high temperature
circuitry 424 can work in combination to adjust the memory bias
supply voltage 402 based on a voltage level of the bias voltage
435.
[0037] In a hot temperature environment, the bias voltage 435 can
have a high voltage level, for example, large enough to activate an
NMOS transistor in the feedback circuitry 422. The feedback
circuitry 422 can set to the feedback voltage 426 to a voltage
level correlated to the memory bias supply voltage 402. In some
embodiments, the high voltage level of the bias voltage 435 can
effectively short circuit the feedback circuitry 422 resulting in
the feedback voltage 426 and the memory bias supply voltage 402
having a similar voltage level. The high temperature circuitry 424
can raise a voltage level of the memory bias supply voltage 402 and
the feedback voltage 426 based on a total current.
[0038] The pulldown circuitry 423 can adjust the memory bias supply
voltage 402 based on the feedback voltage 426. For example, the
feedback circuitry 422 can reduce the feedback voltage 426 in
response to the bias voltage 435. The new voltage level for
feedback voltage 426 can alter the operation of the pulldown
circuitry 423, for example, increase the memory bias supply voltage
402 by a smaller magnitude. This increase of the memory bias supply
voltage 402 by the pulldown circuitry 423 and corresponding
feedback process can continue until a steady state has been
reached. The voltage level of the memory bias supply voltage 402 in
a hot temperature environment can be set at a higher level than in
a colder environment, which can allow the voltage supply of the
memory device to be reduced.
CONCLUSION
[0039] While the application describes specific examples of
carrying out embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate
that there are numerous variations and permutations of the above
described systems and techniques that fall within the spirit and
scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
[0040] One of skill in the art will also recognize that the
concepts taught herein can be tailored to a particular application
in many other ways. In particular, those skilled in the art will
recognize that the illustrated examples are but one of many
alternative implementations that will become apparent upon reading
this disclosure.
[0041] Although the specification may refer to "an", "one",
"another", or "some" example(s) in several locations, this does not
necessarily mean that each such reference is to the same
example(s), or that the feature only applies to a single
example.
* * * * *