Patents by Inventor Mihail Jefremow

Mihail Jefremow 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).

  • Publication number: 20150194192
    Abstract: A sense amplifier of a memory cell having a sense voltage generating circuit configured to generate a sense voltage; and a sensing circuit configured to compare a bitline voltage of the memory cell with the sense voltage, and to output a digital output signal indicating a content of the memory cell, wherein during a sense phase, the sensing circuit is decoupled from a voltage supply which charges a bitline capacitance during a precharge phase, and is coupled to and supplied by the bitline capacitance. The sense voltage generating circuit may be further configured to generate a sense voltage that during a precharge phase is dependent on the voltage supply and during a sense phase is independent of the voltage supply.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2014
    Publication date: July 9, 2015
    Applicant: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Thomas Kern, Mihail Jefremow
  • Patent number: 9076540
    Abstract: The invention relates to methods and systems for reading a memory cell and in particular, an STT MRAM. In one example, a system for reading a memory cell includes a sense path and an inverse path. A reference current is provided through the sense path and is sampled via a first sampling element in the sense path, and a cell current from the memory cell is provided through the inverse sense path and is sampled via a second sampling element in the inverse sense path. Subsequently, the memory cell is disconnected from the inverse sense path, the cell current is provided through the sense path, the reference source is disconnected from the sense path, and the reference current is provided through the inverse sense path. The output levels are then determined by the cell and reference currents working against the sampled reference and sampled cell currents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: David Mueller, Wolf Allers, Mihail Jefremow
  • Patent number: 9070466
    Abstract: The invention relates to methods and systems for reading a memory cell and in particular, an STT MRAM. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a method for reading a memory cell includes combining a cell current from a memory cell with a reference current from a reference source to create an average current, enabling the average current to flow through a first mirror transistor in a sense path and a second mirror transistor in a reference path, storing the current mismatch on a capacitor coupled to the gates of the first mirror transistor and the second mirror transistor, disconnecting the memory cell from the reference path and disconnecting the reference source from the sense path, enabling the cell current only to flow through the sense path, and determining the output level of the memory cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Mihail Jefremow, Wolf Allers, Jan Otterstedt, Christian Peters, Thomas Kern
  • Publication number: 20150170717
    Abstract: An embodiment relates to a method for data processing and comprises determining an electrical variable for each cell of a data bit, transforming each electrical variable into the time domain, and determining a blank state for at least one data bit based on a comparison of the transformed electrical variables.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2013
    Publication date: June 18, 2015
    Applicant: INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AG
    Inventors: THOMAS KERN, MIHAIL JEFREMOW
  • Patent number: 9032140
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to an electronic memory system, and more specifically, to a system for adaptive bit rate programming of a memory device, and a method for adaptive bit rate programming of a memory device. According to an embodiment, a system for adaptive bit rate programming of a memory device including a plurality of memory cells is provided, wherein the memory cells are configured to be electrically programmable by application of a current supplied by a current source, the system including selection devices for selecting memory cells for programming based on availability of current from the current source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Wolf Allers, Jan Otterstedt, Mihail Jefremow, Edvin Paparisto, Leonardo Castro
  • Patent number: 8837210
    Abstract: The invention relates to methods and systems for reading a memory cell and in particular, an STT MRAM. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a system for reading a memory cell includes a read path and a precharge path. The reference current is provided through the read path and is sampled via a sampling element in the read path. Subsequently, a current from the memory cell is provided through the same sampling element and read path. The output level is then determined by the cell current working against the sampled reference current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Mihail Jefremow, Wolf Allers, Jan Otterstedt, Christian Peters, Thomas Kern
  • Publication number: 20140215124
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to an electronic memory system, and more specifically, to a system for adaptive bit rate programming of a memory device, and a method for adaptive bit rate programming of a memory device. According to an embodiment, a system for adaptive bit rate programming of a memory device including a plurality of memory cells is provided, wherein the memory cells are configured to be electrically programmable by application of a current supplied by a current source, the system including selection devices for selecting memory cells for programming based on availability of current from the current source.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2013
    Publication date: July 31, 2014
    Applicant: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Wolf Allers, Jan Otterstedt, Mihail Jefremow, Edvin Paparisto, Leonardo Castro
  • Publication number: 20140063923
    Abstract: The invention relates to methods and systems for reading a memory cell and in particular, an STT MRAM. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a method for reading a memory cell includes combining a cell current from a memory cell with a reference current from a reference source to create an average current, enabling the average current to flow through a first mirror transistor in a sense path and a second mirror transistor in a reference path, storing the current mismatch on a capacitor coupled to the gates of the first mirror transistor and the second mirror transistor, disconnecting the memory cell from the reference path and disconnecting the reference source from the sense path, enabling the cell current only to flow through the sense path, and determining the output level of the memory cell.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2012
    Publication date: March 6, 2014
    Applicant: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Mihail Jefremow, Wolf Allers, Jan Otterstedt, Christian Peters, Thomas Kern
  • Publication number: 20140064011
    Abstract: The invention relates to an electronic memory system, and more specifically, to a system for providing voltage supply protection in a memory device, and a method for providing voltage supply protection in a memory device. According to an embodiment, a system for providing voltage supply protection in a memory device is provided, the system including a memory array including a plurality of memory cells arranged in a plurality of groups of memory cells, and a plurality of current limiting elements, wherein each group of memory cells is associated with at least one current limiting element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2012
    Publication date: March 6, 2014
    Applicant: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Jan Otterstedt, Wolf Allers, Mihail Jefremow, Edvin Paparisto, Leonardo Castro, Thomas Kern
  • Publication number: 20140056059
    Abstract: The invention relates to methods and systems for reading a memory cell and in particular, an STT MRAM. In one example, a system for reading a memory cell includes a sense path and an inverse path. A reference current is provided through the sense path and is sampled via a first sampling element in the sense path, and a cell current from the memory cell is provided through the inverse sense path and is sampled via a second sampling element in the inverse sense path. Subsequently, the memory cell is disconnected from the inverse sense path, the cell current is provided through the sense path, the reference source is disconnected from the sense path, and the reference current is provided through the inverse sense path. The output levels are then determined by the cell and reference currents working against the sampled reference and sampled cell currents.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 23, 2012
    Publication date: February 27, 2014
    Applicant: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: David Mueller, Wolf Allers, Mihail Jefremow
  • Publication number: 20140056079
    Abstract: Embodiments relate to systems and methods including a step of switching between two or more erase operations and/or two or more write operations for erasing of and/or writing to least one memory cell of a nonvolatile memory enabling to select a most suitable erase and/or write operation for a particular erase and/or write operation within the memory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 24, 2012
    Publication date: February 27, 2014
    Applicant: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Jan Otterstedt, Wolf Allers, Mihail Jefremow, Edvin Paparisto, Leonardo Castro, Christian Peters
  • Publication number: 20140056058
    Abstract: The invention relates to methods and systems for reading a memory cell and in particular, an STT MRAM. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a system for reading a memory cell includes a read path and a precharge path. The reference current is provided through the read path and is sampled via a sampling element in the read path. Subsequently, a current from the memory cell is provided through the same sampling element and read path. The output level is then determined by the cell current working against the sampled reference current.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 23, 2012
    Publication date: February 27, 2014
    Applicant: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Mihail Jefremow, Wolf Allers, Jan Otterstedt, Christian Peters, Thomas Kern
  • Patent number: 8649205
    Abstract: A memory cell is provided, the memory cell including a first two-terminal memory element; a second two-terminal memory element; a controller circuit configured to program the first two-terminal memory element to one or more states and the second two-terminal memory element to one or more states, wherein a state of the first two-terminal memory element and a state of the second two-terminal memory element are interdependent; and a measuring circuit configured to measure a difference signal between a first two-terminal memory element signal associated with the state of the first two-terminal memory element and a second two-terminal memory element signal associated with the state of the second two-terminal memory element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2014
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Christian Peters, Mihail Jefremow, Jan Otterstedt, Wolf Allers, Robert Wiesner
  • Patent number: 8559243
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the invention relate to a sense amplifier configured to determine the slope of a bitline charging voltage and to utilize the determined slope in combination with a voltage level sensing scheme to aid in reading data from a memory cell associated with the bitline. In particular, a sense amplifier circuit is configured to determine a slope of a bit line charging voltage and based upon the determined slope to adjust the slope of the bitline voltage (e.g., by adding a dynamic slope dependent current to a memory cell current configured to charge the bitline) provided to a sense amplifier. By adjusting the slope of the bitline voltage, the charging speed of memory cells in a low resistive state (e.g., having a high cell current and therefore a good SNR) can be increased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2013
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Mihail Jefremow, Thomas Kern, Ullrich Menczigar, Ulrich Backhausen
  • Publication number: 20130208527
    Abstract: A memory cell is provided, the memory cell including a first two-terminal memory element; a second two-terminal memory element; a controller circuit configured to program the first two-terminal memory element to one or more states and the second two-terminal memory element to one or more states, wherein a state of the first two-terminal memory element and a state of the second two-terminal memory element are interdependent; and a measuring circuit configured to measure a difference signal between a first two-terminal memory element signal associated with the state of the first two-terminal memory element and a second two-terminal memory element signal associated with the state of the second two-terminal memory element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2012
    Publication date: August 15, 2013
    Applicant: INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AG
    Inventors: Christian Peters, Mihail Jefremow, Jan Otterstedt, Wolf Allers, Robert Wiesner
  • Publication number: 20120126783
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the invention relate to a sense amplifier configured to determine the slope of a bitline charging voltage and to utilize the determined slope in combination with a voltage level sensing scheme to aid in reading data from a memory cell associated with the bitline. In particular, a sense amplifier circuit is configured to determine a slope of a bit line charging voltage and based upon the determined slope to adjust the slope of the bitline voltage (e.g., by adding a dynamic slope dependent current to a memory cell current configured to charge the bitline) provided to a sense amplifier. By adjusting the slope of the bitline voltage, the charging speed of memory cells in a low resistive state (e.g., having a high cell current and therefore a good SNR) can be increased.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2010
    Publication date: May 24, 2012
    Applicant: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Mihail Jefremow, Thomas Kern, Ullrich Menczigar, Ulrich Backhausen