Patents by Inventor Tomohisa Iba

Tomohisa Iba 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: 7630242
    Abstract: With this flash memory, because a plurality of memory blocks are formed on a surface of a single P-type well, a layout area can be made small. Further, when erasing data for a memory block to be erased, a voltage of the P-type well is applied to all word lines of a memory block to be not erased. Consequently, the voltage of the P-type well and the voltage of all word lines of the memory block to be not erased change at the same time. With this, it is possible to prevent a threshold voltage for the memory block to be not erased from changing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2009
    Assignee: Renesas Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Yasuhiko Taito, Naoki Otani, Tomohisa Iba, Tsukasa Oishi
  • Publication number: 20080225592
    Abstract: With this flash memory, because a plurality of memory blocks are formed on a surface of a single P-type well, a layout area can be made small. Further, when erasing data for a memory block to be erased, a voltage of the P-type well is applied to all word lines of a memory block to be not erased. Consequently, the voltage of the P-type well and the voltage of all word lines of the memory block to be not erased change at the same time. With this, it is possible to prevent a threshold voltage for the memory block to be not erased from changing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2008
    Publication date: September 18, 2008
    Inventors: Yasuhiko Taito, Naoki Otani, Tomohisa Iba, Tsukasa Oishi
  • Patent number: 6587916
    Abstract: A microcomputer comprises: a flash memory for storing rewriting control F/W and user S/F; a command register for specifying content of rewriting control; a address register to be subjected to rewriting-control; a data register for specifying data to be written; a power-supply pump circuit in the flash memory; and a control signal register for specifying/outputting a control signal to a memory decoder. A CPU of the microcomputer is capable of accessing these four registers to perform writing or reading. A given bit of the control signal register corresponds to a given control signal. A value written to the register becomes a control signal that will be directly supplied to both of the power supply circuit and the memory decoder, in the flash memory, to control them. By rewriting a set value of this control signal register using the rewriting control F/W according to a specified sequence, processing such as “erase” and “program” of the flash memory is performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2003
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, Mitsubishi Electric Semiconductor System Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Engineering Company Limited
    Inventors: Katsunobu Hongo, Tsutomu Tanaka, Toshihiro Sezaki, Hiroyuki Kimura, Mikio Kamiya, Yasuhiro Ami, Kunio Tani, Tomohisa Iba
  • Patent number: 6466484
    Abstract: A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device selects a bit line while a word line is in a non-selected state, and self-selectively writes back only a cell in an overerased state on the selected bit line. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory device performs this write-back operation after completion of erase verification. At this time, current sensitivity of a sense current amplifier defining the threshold of a memory cell is set in view of an off-state leakage current of a memory cell transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2002
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, Mitsubishi Electric Engineering Company Limited
    Inventors: Kiyohiko Sakakibara, Susumu Takeuchi, Makoto Yamamoto, Kunio Tani, Yukio Nakamoto, Tomohisa Iba
  • Patent number: 6459640
    Abstract: A nonvolatile semiconductor memory includes a memory block composed of a memory array having a plurality of memory cells arranged in a matrix form, each of the memory cells being composed of a nonvolatile transistor; a memory decoder necessary for erasing/writing/reading data of the nonvolatile transistor in the memory array; a charge pump necessary for erasing/writing/reading the data of the nonvolatile transistor in the memory array; a register having each of a plurality of control signals for controlling the memory decoder and the charge pump allocated to register 1 bit; and an updating device for updating a content of the register by a data processor coupled to the register. By using this updating device to update the content of the register, the memory decoder and the charge pump are controlled, the data of the memory block is erased, and data is written in/read from the nonvolatile transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2002
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, Mitsubishi Electric Engineering Comp. Limited, Mitsubishi Electric Semiconductor System Corp.
    Inventors: Kunio Tani, Tomohisa Iba, Tetsu Tashiro, Katsunobu Hongo, Tsutomu Tanaka, Mikio Kamiya, Toshihiro Sezaki, Hiroyuki Kimura
  • Publication number: 20020129195
    Abstract: A microcomputer comprises: a flash memory for storing rewriting control F/W and user S/F; a command register for specifying content of rewriting control; a address register to be subjected to rewriting-control; a data register for specifying data to be written; a power-supply pump circuit in the flash memory; and a control signal register for specifying/outputting a control signal to a memory decoder. A CPU of the microcomputer is capable of accessing these four registers to perform writing or reading. A given bit of the control signal register corresponds to a given control signal. A value written to the register becomes a control signal that will be directly supplied to both of the power supply circuit and the memory decoder, in the flash memory, to control them. By rewriting a set value of this control signal register using the rewriting control F/W according to a specified sequence, processing such as “erase” and “program” of the flash memory is performed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2001
    Publication date: September 12, 2002
    Inventors: Katsunobu Hongo, Tsutomu Tanaka, Toshihiro Sezaki, Hiroyuki Kimura, Mikio Kamiya, Yasuhiro Ami, Kunio Tani, Tomohisa Iba
  • Publication number: 20020101764
    Abstract: There is provided a nonvolatile semiconductor memory comprising: a memory bock composed of a memory array having a plurality of memory cells arranged in a matrix form, each of the memory cells being composed of a nonvolatile transistor; a memory decoder necessary for erasing/writing/reading data of the nonvolatile transistor in the memory array; a charge pump necessary for erasing/writing/reading the data of the nonvolatile transistor in the memory array; a register having each of a plurality of control signals for controlling the memory decoder and the charge pump allocated to register 1 bit; and means for updating a content of the register by a data processor coupled to the register. By using this updating means to update the content of the register, the memory decoder and the charge pump are controlled, the data of the memory block is erased, and data is written in/read from the nonvolatile transistor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 17, 2001
    Publication date: August 1, 2002
    Inventors: Kunio Tani, Tomohisa Iba, Tetsu Tashiro, Katsunobu Hongo, Tsutomu Tanaka, Mikio Kamiya, Toshihiro Sezaki, Hiroyuki Kimura
  • Publication number: 20020071314
    Abstract: A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device selects a bit line while a word line is in a non-selected state, and self-selectively writes back only a cell in an overerased state on the selected bit line. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory device performs this write-back operation after completion of erase verification. At this time, current sensitivity of a sense current amplifier defining the threshold of a memory cell is set in view of an off-state leakage current of a memory cell transistor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2002
    Publication date: June 13, 2002
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI DENKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kiyohiko Sakakibara, Susumu Takeuchi, Makoto Yamamoto, Kunio Tani, Yukio Nakamoto, Tomohisa Iba
  • Patent number: 6356480
    Abstract: A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device selects a bit line while a word line is in a non-selected state, and self-selectively writes back only a cell in an overerased state on the selected bit line. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory device performs this write-back operation after completion of erase verification. At this time, current sensitivity of a sense current amplifier defining the threshold of a memory cell is set in view of an off-state leakage current of a memory cell transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2002
    Assignees: Mitsubishi, Denki, Kabushiki, Kaisha, Mitsubishi Electric Engineering Company Limited
    Inventors: Kiyohiko Sakakibara, Susumu Takeuchi, Makoto Yamamoto, Kunio Tani, Yukio Nakamoto, Tomohisa Iba
  • Patent number: 5581510
    Abstract: According to a time required for programing operation, respective chips of flash memories are divided into a first group and a second group of chips requiring a time longer than the first group for the programing operation, and a postburn-in test, a high temperature test, and a low temperature test are carried out to a plurality of chips belonging to the first group simultaneously, and to a plurality of chips belonging to the second group simultaneously.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 3, 1996
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, Mitsubishi Electric Semiconductor Software Corporation
    Inventors: Tatsuki Furusho, Tomohisa Iba