Patents by Inventor Robert Homan Igehy
Robert Homan Igehy 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).
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Patent number: 7961540Abstract: A dynamically-operating restoration circuit is used to apply a voltage or current restore pulse signal to thyristor-based memory cells and therein restore data in the cell using the internal positive feedback loop of the thyristor. In one example implementation, the internal positive feedback loop in the thyristor is used to restore the conducting state of a device after the thyristor current drops below the holding current. A pulse and/or periodic waveform are defined and applied to ensure that the thyristor is not released from its conducting state. The time average of the periodic restore current in the thyristor may be lower than the holding current threshold. While not necessarily limited to memory cells that are thyristor-based, various embodiments of the invention have been found to be the particularly useful for high-speed, low-power memory cells in which a thin capacitively-coupled thyristor is used to provide a bi-stable storage element.Type: GrantFiled: July 29, 2008Date of Patent: June 14, 2011Assignee: T-RAM Semiconductor, Inc.Inventors: Farid Nemati, Hyun-Jin Cho, Robert Homan Igehy
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Publication number: 20100315871Abstract: A dynamically-operating restoration circuit is used to apply a voltage or current restore pulse signal to thyristor-based memory cells and therein restore data in the cell using the internal positive feedback loop of the thyristor. In one example implementation, the internal positive feedback loop in the thyristor is used to restore the conducting state of a device after the thyristor current drops below the holding current. A pulse and/or periodic waveform are defined and applied to ensure that the thyristor is not released from its conducting state. The time average of the periodic restore current in the thyristor may be lower than the holding current threshold. While not necessarily limited to memory cells that are thyristor-based, various embodiments of the invention have been found to be the particularly useful for high-speed, low-power memory cells in which a thin capacitively-coupled thyristor is used to provide a bi-stable storage element.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 29, 2008Publication date: December 16, 2010Inventors: Farid Nemati, Hyun-Jin Cho, Robert Homan Igehy
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Patent number: 7405963Abstract: A dynamically-operating restoration circuit is used to apply a voltage or current restore pulse signal to thyristor-based memory cells and therein restore data in the cell using the internal positive feedback loop of the thyristor. In one example implementation, the internal positive feedback loop in the thyristor is used to restore the conducting state of a device after the thyristor current drops below the holding current. A pulse and/or periodic waveform are defined and applied to ensure that the thyristor is not released from its conducting state. The time average of the periodic restore current in the thyristor may be lower than the holding current threshold. While not necessarily limited to memory cells that are thyristor-based, various embodiments of the invention have been found to be the particularly useful for high-speed, low-power memory cells in which a thin capacitively-coupled thyristor is used to provide a bi-stable storage element.Type: GrantFiled: February 24, 2006Date of Patent: July 29, 2008Assignee: T-RAM Semiconductor, Inc.Inventors: Farid Nemati, Hyun-Jin Cho, Robert Homan Igehy
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Patent number: 7236421Abstract: Minimal memory access times are realized by using a single access to a read-modify-write bank. read-modify-write memory including at least one read-or-write bank is operated in a manner that uses at most one access to each of the at least one read-or-write banks for each read-modify-write access to the memory during a memory cycle. The access can be effected during a single clock cycle and can be used for read, write and read-modify-write memory access.Type: GrantFiled: September 16, 2004Date of Patent: June 26, 2007Assignee: T-RAM Semiconductor, Inc.Inventors: Matthew Eldridge, Robert Homan Igehy
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Patent number: 7042759Abstract: A dynamically-operating restoration circuit is used to apply a voltage or current restore pulse signal to thyristor-based memory cells and therein restore data in the cell using the internal positive feedback loop of the thyristor. In one example implementation, the internal positive feedback loop in the thyristor is used to restore the conducting state of a device after the thyristor current drops below the holding current. A pulse and/or periodic waveform are defined and applied to ensure that the thyristor is not released from its conducting state. The time average of the periodic restore current in the thyristor may be lower than the holding current threshold. While not necessarily limited to memory cells that are thyristor-based, various embodiments of the invention have been found to be the particularly useful for high-speed, low-power memory cells in which a thin capacitively-coupled thyristor is used to provide a bi-stable storage element.Type: GrantFiled: April 22, 2005Date of Patent: May 9, 2006Assignee: T-RAM Semiconductor, Inc.Inventors: Farid Nemati, Hyun-Jin Cho, Robert Homan Igehy
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Patent number: 6885581Abstract: A dynamically-operating restoration circuit (106) is used to apply a voltage or current restore pulse signal to thyristor-based memory cells (108) and therein restore data in the cell using the internal positive feedback loop of the thyristor (110). In one example implementation, the internal positive feedback loop in the thyristor (110) is used to restore the conducting state of a device after the thyristor current drops below the holding current. A pulse and/or periodic waveform are defined and applied to ensure that the thyristor is not released from its conducting state. The time average of the periodic restore current in the thyristor may be lower than the holding current threshold. While not necessarily limited to memory cells that are thyristor-based, various embodiments of the invention have been found to be the particularly useful for high-speed, low-power memory cells in which a thin capacitively-coupled thyristor is used to provide a bi-stable storage element.Type: GrantFiled: April 5, 2002Date of Patent: April 26, 2005Assignee: T-RAM, Inc.Inventors: Farid Nemati, Hyun-Jin Cho, Robert Homan Igehy
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Patent number: 6804162Abstract: Minimal memory access times are realized by using a single access to a read-modify-write bank. A read-modify-write memory including at least one read-or-write bank is operated in a manner that uses at most one access to each of the at least one read-or-write banks for each read-modify-write access to the memory during a memory cycle. The access can be effected during a single clock cycle and can be used for read, write and read-modify-write memory access.Type: GrantFiled: April 5, 2002Date of Patent: October 12, 2004Assignee: T-Ram, Inc.Inventors: Matthew Eldridge, Robert Homan Igehy
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Patent number: 6785169Abstract: The soft error rate in a semiconductor memory is improved via the use of a circuit and arrangement adapted to use a mirror bit to recover from a soft error. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, a semiconductor device includes first and mirror memory cells configured and arranged to receive and store a same bit in response to a write operation, with the memory cells more susceptible to a bit error in which the stored bit changes from a first state to a second state than to a change from the second state into the first state. The memory cells are separated by a distance that is sufficient to make the likelihood of both memory cells being upset by a same source very low. For a read operation, the bits stored at the fist and second memory cells are compared. If the bits are the same, the bit from the first and/or mirror bit is read out, and if the bits are different, a bit corresponding to the more susceptible state is read out. In this manner, soft errors can be overcome.Type: GrantFiled: April 5, 2002Date of Patent: August 31, 2004Assignee: T-Ram, Inc.Inventors: Farid Nemati, Mahmood Reza Kasnavi, Robert Homan Igehy
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Publication number: 20040104400Abstract: A dynamically-operating restoration circuit (106) is used to apply a voltage or current restore pulse signal to thyristor-based memory cells (108) and therein restore data in the cell using the internal positive feedback loop of the thyristor (110). In one example implementation, the internal positive feedback loop in the thyristor (110) is used to restore the conducting state of a device after the thyristor current drops below the holding current A pulse and/or periodic waveform are defined and applied to ensure that the thyristor is not released from its conducting state. The time average of the periodic restore current in the thyristor may be lower than the holding current threshold. While not necessarily limited to memory cells that are thyristor-based, various embodiments of the invention have been found to be the particularly useful for high-speed, low-power memory cells in which a thin capacitively-coupled thyristor is used to provide a bi-stable storage element.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 22, 2003Publication date: June 3, 2004Inventors: Nemati Farid, Hyun-Jin Cho, Robert Homan Igehy