Patents by Inventor Robert U. Broze

Robert U. Broze has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6137728
    Abstract: Disclosed is a FPGA cell and array structure which use FN tunneling for program and erase. Each cell comprises a switch floating gate field effect transistor and a sense floating gate field effect transistor with the floating gates being common and the control gates being common. Programming of a cell is effected by voltage biasing the common control gate line and the source/drains of the sense transistor. The source/drains of the sense field effect transistor are formed from buried doped layers (e.g. N+ in a P-doped substrate) which are formed prior to formation of the polysilicon floating gate and control gate. Lateral diffusion of dopant from the buried source/drains into the channel beneath the floating gate facilitates electron tunneling during erase and program operations, and the graded junctions of the buried source/drains lower band-to-band tunneling leakage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2000
    Assignee: GateField Corporation
    Inventors: Jack Zezhong Peng, Volker Hecht, Robert M. Salter, III, Kyung Joon Han, Robert U. Broze
  • Patent number: 6072720
    Abstract: Disclosed is a FPGA cell and array structure which use FN tunneling for program and erase. Each cell comprises a switch floating gate field effect transistor and a sense floating gate field effect transistor with the floating gates being common and the control gates being common. Programming of a cell is effected through a buried bitline in juxtaposition with the switch transistor and the sense transistor over which are the floating gate and the control gate. The sense transistor can be fabricated simultaneously with fabrication of the switch transistor whereby the two transistors are identical in dopant concentrations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2000
    Assignee: GateField Corporation
    Inventors: Jack Zezhong Peng, Robert M. Salter, III, Volker Hecht, Kyung Joon Han, Robert U. Broze, Victor Levchenko
  • Patent number: 5894148
    Abstract: The present invention provides for an improved EPROM transistor cell which forms the programming portion of the programmable interconnect interconnect of an FPGA integrated circuit, and a method of manufacturing the EPROM cell. The EPROM cell has a floating gate disposed over a P region of the substrate. Aligned with one edge of the floating gate and at the surface of the substrate is a lightly doped P- region; on the opposite edge of the floating gate is a heavily doped N+ region. A control gate lies over the P-, P substrate and over the N+ region. N+ regions are formed at the opposite edges of the control gate. One N+ region is contiguous to the P- region and forms the source of the EPROM cell and the other N+ region is connected to the N+ region under the control gate and forms the drain of the EPROM cell. This structure allows for easy process control of the V.sub.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 13, 1999
    Assignee: GateField Corporation
    Inventors: Jack Zezhong Peng, Robert U. Broze, Kyung Joon Han, Victor Levchenko
  • Patent number: 5764096
    Abstract: A programmable interconnect which closely integrates an independent switching transistor with separate NVM programming and erasing elements. The programming element is an EPROM transistor and the erasing element is a Fowler-Nordheim tunneling device. A unitary floating gate is shared by the switching transistor and the NVM programming and elements which charge and discharge the floating gate. The shared floating gate structure is the memory structure of the integrated programmable interconnect and controls the impedance of the switching transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 9, 1998
    Assignee: Gatefield Corporation
    Inventors: Robert J. Lipp, Richard D. Freeman, Robert U. Broze, John M. Caywood, Joseph G. Nolan, III
  • Patent number: 5633518
    Abstract: An array of programmable interconnect cells, each cell having a floating gate as the gate of an MOS switch transistor which programmably connect or disconnects nodes, is used in an FPGA. The floating gate of each cell, which is capacitively coupled to a control gate, is programmed by Fowler-Nordheim tunneling through an tunneling oxide above a programming/erase line in the integrated circuit substrate. Contiguous and parallel to the programming/erase line is at least one tunneling control line which forms a PN junction in close proximity to the programming/erase line region under the tunneling oxide. Under a reverse bias, a deep charge depletion region is formed in the programming/erase line region to block tunneling. In this manner, a selected cell can be programmed/erased, while the non-selected cells are not.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 27, 1997
    Assignee: Zycad Corporation
    Inventor: Robert U. Broze