Samsung patents memory chip that adjusts voltage based on current flow
This filing describes a memory device that uses a built-in circuit to monitor the electrical current flowing through its storage cells during data writing. If the current is too high, the chip increases the voltage on the word line; if it is lower, it adjusts the voltage on the bit line instead.
In the filing’s own words
A memory device may include a cell region and a peripheral circuit region. The cell region may include memory cells including a selector. The peripheral circuit region may include a current monitoring circuit and a voltage controller. In programming operation for a selected memory cell, the voltage controller may input a first word line voltage to a selected word line, the current monitoring circuit may compare a current of the selected word line with a reference current, and the voltage controller may input a second word line voltage higher than the first word line voltage to the selected word line when the current of the selected word line is greater than the reference current and may input a first bit line voltage or a second bit line voltage to a selected bit line when the current of the selected word line is less than the reference current.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A memory device, comprising: a cell region including a plurality of memory cells in regions where a plurality of word lines and a plurality of bit lines intersect each other, the plurality of memory cells each respectively including a selector such that the plurality of memory cells respectively include a plurality of selectors; and a peripheral circuit region including a current monitoring circuit and a voltage controller, the current monitoring circuit being configured to monitor a current flowing through the plurality of word lines, and the voltage controller being configured to input a voltage to each of the plurality of word lines and the plurality of bit lines, wherein in a programming operation for a selected memory cell connected to a selected word line among the plurality of word lines and a selected bit line among the plurality of bit lines, the voltage controller is configured to input a first word line voltage to the selected word line, the current monitoring circuit is configured to compare a current of the selected word line with a reference current, the voltage controller is configured to input a second word line voltage to the selected word line when the current of the selected word line is greater than the reference current, the voltage controller is configured to input a first bit line voltage or a second bit line voltage to the selected bit line when the current of the selected word line is less than the reference current, the second word line voltage is higher than the first word line voltage, and the second bit line voltage is higher than the first word line voltage.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
- Official title
- MEMORY DEVICE, METHOD OF PROGRAMMING THE SAME, AND MEMORY SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME
- Publication number
- US20260290438A1
- Application number
- 19456286
- Filed
- Jan 22, 2026
- Published
- Sep 24, 2026
- Inventors
- 3
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G11C 11/4096 Physics & computingG11C 11/4074 Physics & computingG11C 11/4085 Physics & computingMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.