Self restoring ferroelectric memory

Abstract: A semiconductor memory uses cells with a ferroelec­ tric capacitor having one plate coupled to a bit line by a FET and another plate coupled to a plate line. A pulse on the plate line causes the bit line to change voltage based on the state of the cell. A dummy cell arrangement is disclosed using one capacitor per cell, and another embodi­ ment uses two capacitors per cell with no dummy. The cells cooperate with a sense amplifier and timing signals so that they are self restoring.

Description: Various ferroelectric materials are known, such as Phase III potassium nitrate, bismuth titanate and the PZT family of lead zirconate and titanate compounds, for example. One characteristic of such materials is a hysteresis curve or loop of the sort illustrated in Figure 1 wherein the abscissa represents the field voltage applied to the material and the ordinate represents the polarization of the material. That is, because of the hysteresis curve, if a capacitor is formed using a ferroelectric material between its plates, the flow of current through the capacitor will depend on the prior history of the voltages applied to the device. Briefly, if a ferroelectric capacitor is in an initial state wherein zero volts is applied, it may have a polarization indicated at point A in Figure 1, illustratively. A physical characteristic of the device will be its so called "coercive voltage" represented by a broken line B. If a positive voltage greater than the coercive voltage B is applied across the capacitor, then the capacitor will conduct current and move to a new polarization represented by point C. When the voltage is brought to zero, rather than returning to the polarization represented at A, the ferroelectric capacitor instead will maintain essentially the same polarization, as indicated at point D. A further positive voltage will cause relatively little change in the polarization, moving it toward or beyond point C. However, a substantial enough negative voltage will cause the polarization to vary as represented by point E. Thereafter, when such negative voltage is removed from the capacitor, the polarization of the device remains essentially the same and moves to point A. Thus, points A and D represent two states occurring at zero volts applied across the capacitor but depending on the history of voltage applied to the device. Consequently, a ferroelectric capacitor is usable as part of a memory cell. Point A can represent a logic "zero," and point D can represent a logic "one." Typically, a ferroelectric capacitor has metallic or conductive plates typically 500 angstroms to 100 micrometers apart with a ferroelectric material such as potassium nitrate as the dielectric between the plates. See , for example, Rohrer U.S. Patent Nos. 3,728,694 ("Thin Film Ferroelectric Device") issued April 17, 1973; 4,195,355 ("Process For Manufacturing A Ferroelectric Device And Devices Manufactured Thereby") issued March 25, 1980; and 3,939,292 ("Process For Stable Phase III Potassium Nitrate And Articles Prepared Therefrom") issued Feb. 17, 1976. To determine the state of a ferroelectric capacitor, one can apply a voltage pulse, observe the current which flows and thereby determine the state. To write into a ferroelectric capacitor cell, one applies a positive or negative voltage to the plates of the capacitor, causing the ferroelectric material therewithin to move along its hysteresis curve as shown in Figure 1, forcing it into a stable state corresponding to the data, a binary one or a binary zero. To read, if a positive pulse is applied and there is relatively little current drawn or charge moved by the capacitor, then this would indicate that the capacitor was in state D. If substantial charge moved, this would indicate that the capacitor was in state A. It will be appreciated that if a read operation occurs and a significant amount of charge moves to cause the capacitor to move from one stable state to the other along the hysteresis curve, then the data within the cell will be flipped, as the cell will have moved to the opposite stable state which represents the opposite binary digit. Consequently, restoration is usually needed when reading a memory cell using a ferroelectric capacitor as the memory element. The prior art has used ferroelectric capacitors as memory cells, and it has been the standard practice to provide an orthogonal arrangement of rows and columns with a memory cell coupling each row to each column at the plural intersections. Figure 2 represents such a prior art arrangement with nine memory cells arranged in three columns C0, C1 and C2 intersecting three rows R0, R1 and R2. Each intersection has a corresponding ferroelectric capacitor representing a memory cell, and it is noted that each row conductor is connected directly to one of the capacitor plates while each column conductor is connected directly to the other capacitor plates. It will be assumed that the coercive voltage of the ferroelectric capacitors is between three and four volts. To select a memory cell 10, a positive voltage (illustratively 5 volts) is applied to row R0 and thus to the top capacitor plates of capacitors 10, 12 and 14. Zero volts is applied to the other rows R1 and R2. Also, zero volts is applied to the column C0 (and hence the bottom plate of capacitor 10), so that the voltage across capacitor 10 is five volts. The amount of current which flows indicates the data stored in capacitor 10. To prevent reading the other cells of the array, the voltage across capacitor 16 is controlled to be zero volts, which is less than the coercive voltage. Hence, capacitor 16 does not change state. However, if zero volts is applied to column C1 or C2, then the voltage across capacitors 12 and 14 in row R0 will be five volts, which exceeds the coercive voltage. Thus, all cells 10, 12, and 14 in row R0 would be accessed. To prevent this, columns C1 and C2 are controlled to have one-half of the full read voltage applied to them. Thus, 2.5 volts is applied to columns C1 and C2, so that the total voltage across capacitors 12 and 14 each is only 2.5 volts. Because 2.5 volts is less than the coercive voltage, those cells ought to remain in the stable state in which they started. Thus, only cell 10 at the intersection of row R0 and column C0 can be accessed for reading in this manner. Having read memory cell 10, one ordinarily must restore it back to its original stable state. To do this, five volts is placed on column C0 and zero volts on row R0. Each of rows R1 and R2 are brought to 2.5 volts, and columns C1 and C2 are brought to zero volts. Circuitry able to accommodate these sequences of voltage combinations is complex, impedes the objective of achieving high speed in the memory, and takes space. One object of the present invention therefore is to provide a simpler design or arrangement for ferroelectric capacitor memory cells which will overcome this need for elaborate circuitry for switching rows and columns among various voltage combinations in order to read and restore the memory cells. Another problem associated with prior art ferroelectric memories is a "disturb signal." Most, if not all, ferroelectrics have a coercive voltage, i.e. , a small voltage applied to the capacitor for a long enough time can cause the capacitor to change state. For example, if a ferroelectric capacitor in state A (Fig. 1) has a voltage of 2.5 volts applied across it for a long enough time, then even though the coercive voltage may be between three and four volts, the capacitor may move to state D. A further object of the present invention is to reduce these "disturb voltage" or "disturb signal" effects. A third problem addressed by the present invention is that it has traditionally been thought that if a ferroelectric material has no clear coercive voltage, then it is not usable in a memory. This problem also is overcome by the present invention. Reference is made to DE-A-2754987 which describes a volatile memory cell with a non-volatile portion for storing information in a non-volatile manner for a period of time without having to maintain a current supply. The non-volatile portion maintains the state of the cell by trapping charge in the MIOS capacitors thereby altering the threshold voltages of two capacitors. The capacitors can be ferroelectric capacitors. This document does not disclose how the polarization state of a single capacitor can be used effectively to store data in a ferroelectric memory cell. Reference is also made to US-A-4477886 which describes a memory array and a method of reading and restoring data therein, but does not disclose the use of ferroelectric capacitors. According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a non-volatile memory cell comprising a transistor and a capacitor, the memory cell being coupled to a bit line, a word line, and a plate line, wherein the word line is connected to control the operation of the transistor and wherein the capacitor is a ferroelectric capacitor having a ferroelectric material as dielectric, characterised in that the polarization state of the ferroelectric material stores the data state of the memory cell; wherein the transistor has a path of controllable conductivity which, along with the ferroelectric capacitor, is connected serially between the plate line and the bit line so that when the polarization state of the ferroelectric material of the memory cell is read, the ferroelectric capacitor is coupled to the bit line to develop a voltage thereon in response to a read signal on the plate line, and when the cell is written to, a data state is stored by polarization of the ferroelectric material based on the combination of the bit line and plate line voltages. According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of storing binary data in a non-volatile fashion and reading the data, including storing data in a capacitor in a memory cell wherein the capacitor is a ferroelectric capacitor having ferroelectric dielectric between a pair of plate electrodes, the data being stored by controlling voltages applied across the capacitor, including driving a bit line coupled to the capacitor, thereby directly to polarize the ferroelectric material in accordance with the data state; wherein the reading includes the steps of a) applying a pulse to one of the plate electrodes of the capacitor, b) sensing the data from the cell via the bit line connected to the cell, and c) maintaining the voltage level of the bit line after the data from the memory cell has been read for restoring any destroyed polarization state of the capacitor when the pulse has terminated. According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided : a method of reading data from and restoring data to a ferroelectric capacitor in a non-volatile memory cell within an array of memory cells as defined in claim 24. Preferably, the bit line is coupled by the source-drain path of a field effect transistor to one plate of the ferroelectric capacitor. The other capacitor plate is accessed by a "plate" line. The transistor is gated by a word line. According to this arrangement, when a pulse, such as a square wave one-shot, is applied to the plate line, the bit line associated with the ferroelectric capacitor will change voltage in proportion to the state of the memory cell, i.e. , the state of the capacitor. Such a memory cell can then be preferably combined with a sense amplifier and dummy memory cell arrangement wherein a complementary pair of bit lines is coupled to the sense amplifier. The dummy memory cell is coupled to one side of the sense amplifier and an operational memory cell is coupled to the other side. Preferably, the dummy cell, formed by combining a transistor and a ferroelectric capacitor, will have a dummy word line and dummy plate line. The operational memory cell will also have a word line and a plate line. Illustratively, the dummy memory cell will have greater capacitance than the operational memory cell. To read the data using this configuration, preferably the bit lines are precharged to zero volts. Next, the word line, plate line, dummy word line and dummy plate line are all raised to a pre-selected voltage. The capacitor in the operational memory cell is coupled to its bit line through its access transistor, and the dummy memory cell capacitor is coupled to the complementary bit line via its transistor. If the data stored in the memory cell is a logic one, then the dummy memory cell capacitor will cause the voltage on the complementary bit line to increase more than the voltage increase on the bit line because it has a larger capacitor than that of the operational memory cell. If, on the other hand, a logic zero is present in the operational memory cell, then the bit line will rise in voltage faster than the voltage rise on the complementary bit line. The sense amplifier will sense whichever one of the bit lines rises in voltage faster and will drive the bit line to one of two states, in accordance with traditional operation of sense amplifiers. Thereafter, when the voltage on the plate line is removed, the voltage impressed on the bit line pair by the sense amplifier restores the capacitor of the operational memory cell to the proper state. Hence, this embodiment of the invention uses a bit line, word line, and plate line for an operational ferroelectric cell and a dummy ferroelectric cell. In the first embodiment the dummy cell has greater capacitance than the operational memory cell. A modification can be made so that, for example, the dummy cell and the operational cell are the same size, but the dummy cell would be charged to one-half the charge of the operational cell. Or, the dummy cell could have one-half the capacity and be charged to the same voltage as the operational cell. A second embodiment of the invention uses no dummy memory cell per se , but does include two ferroelectric capacitors for each memory cell. The two capacitors of each cell store complementary data. Respective access transistors gated by the same word line couple the capacitors of the cell to corresponding parts of a bit line pair which is coupled to a sense amplifier. One set of plates of the capacitors is coupled to a plate line. When the word line and plate line are raised to a preselected voltage, both memory cell capacitors are coupled to their respective bit lines. During a read or write, the sense amplifier senses the voltage difference between the bit lines and drives the bit lines to one of two states depending upon the memory cell state. When the preselected voltage on the plate line is removed, the voltage impressed on the bit lines by the sense amplifier writes or restores the correct state to each memory cell capacitor. Preferably the memory cells are arranged along rows and columns, each column having a bit line pair. In one configuration, the rows include a word line coupled to the gate electrodes of the access transistors of each cell. The plate line illustratively is separate from the word line but parallel to it. In a second configuration, the plate line extends perpendicular to the word line. This provides the advantage that only one cell out of an entire matrix of cells is selected. These combinations provide a ferroelectric memory which is self-restoring and provides numerous advantages. Figure 1 represents a hysteresis curve for a ferroelectric material; Figure 2 represents a prior art type of array using one ferroelectric capacitor per memory cell; Figure 3 illustrates a first embodiment of the present invention wherein ferroelectric memory cells cooperate with a sense amplifier, dummy memory cells access transistors, a pair of bit lines, and a controlled plate line; Figure 4 illustrates a second embodiment of a memory according to the present invention using two ferroelectric capacitors per memory cell but no dummy cell; Figure 5 illustrates a larger portion of a memory array using the Figure 4 embodiment of the present invention; Figure 6 illustrates an alternate configuration of a circuit according to the present invention; Figure 7 illustrates a sense amplifier suitable for use in Figures 3, 4, 5 or 6; and Figure 8 illustrates decoding circuitry. Figure 3 illustrates a portion of a memory array according to various aspects of the present invention. A memory cell 20a (sometimes referred to as an "operational" memory cell to distinguish it from a "dummy" memory cell described infra ) indicated in broken lines comprises a ferroelectric capacitor 22 and an access transistor 24. Capacitor 22 is indicated with a symbol for a ferroelectric capacitor and includes a pair of spaced apart capacitor plates with a ferroelectric dielectric between them. The Rohrer patents mentioned supra describe illustrative ferroelectric capacitors suitable for use here. One plate of capacitor 22 is coupled to transistor 24. Illustratively, transistor 24 is an n-type field effect type transistor illustratively of the enhancement type used herein as a switching device. Preferably, the source-drain path of transistor 24 couples one plate of capacitor 22 to a bit line 26. A complementary bit line 28 is associated with bit line 26, and both are coupled to a sense and restore amplifier 30. Memory cell 20a is also coupled to a word line 32 and a plate line 34. Specifically, the gate electrode of transistor 24 is coupled to word line 32, and the other plate of capacitor 22 is coupled to plate line 34. Illustratively, word line 32 and plate line 34 are parallel in Figure 3 and are parallel in the physical configuration of a memory array according to this embodiment of the invention. A "dummy" memory cell 36 is coupled to complementary bit line 28 and, like operational memory cell 20a includes an access transistor 38 and a ferroelectric capacitor 40. These are coupled in like fashion to a dummy word line 42 and a dummy plate line 44. According to this embodiment of the invention, to achieve the desired operation of sense amplifier 30, the capacity of capacitor 40 in dummy cell 36 will be greater than the capacity of capacitor 22, and preferably capacitor 40 is at least two times as large as capacitor 22. It will be noted that the present configuration contemplates a total of n memory cells coupled to amplifier 30. Of these, i memory cells 20a, 20b, 20c are coupled to bit line 26 and the remaining memory cells 20d, 20e are coupled to complementary bit line 28. Moreover, a second dummy cell 46 is coupled to bit line 26. It will be understood that the connections have been drawn in detail only for memory cell 20a and dummy cell 36, and that the remaining memory cells 20b, 20c, 20d, 20e and 46 have been illustrated in a simplified or representative fashion. It will be understood, however, that each of memory cells 20 is constructed, configured and coupled like memory cell 20a, and that dummy cell 46 is constructed, configured and coupled in the same way as dummy cell 36. This embodiment of the present invention will have a logic one written into the dummy cell during an initialization cycle following power-up. Memory cell 20a will contain stored data which is to be read out. Appropriate decoding circuitry (shown illustratively in Fig. 8) will decode address information provided to the memory chip and will identify memory cell 20a. Because dummy cell 36 is on the right side of the sense amp 30, it corresponds to and acts as the dummy cell for any of memory cells on the left side, viz. 20a, 20b, 20c. Bit lines 26, 28 will have been precharged to zero volts. For the further initial condition, it may be assumed that a logic one is stored in memory cell 20a. Returning to Figure 1, state A represents logic zero and state D represents a logic one. Thus, memory cell 20a will have its capacitor 22 at state D. Dummy cell 36 also will have its capacitor 40 at state D. A one-shot pulse 49 a is then applied to plate line 34, and a one-shot pulse 49 b is applied to dummy plate line 44. Another one shot pulse 51 is applied to word lines 32 and 42. The rising edges of pulses 49 a , 49 b , and 51 are simultaneous, and the pulses impress a voltage, illustratively five volts, across capacitors 22, 40 and turn on transistors 24 and 38. Because capacitor 22 is at state D, relatively little current will flow therethrough as it moves up the hysteresis curve to point C. Capacitor 40 in dummy cell 36 is at the same state D, the five volts applied across capacitor 40 will also result in some charge flow as the ferroelectric material therein moves from state D to point C. However, because the capacitance of capacitor 40 exceeds that of capacitor 22, capacitor 40 draws more current than capacitor 22. As a result, the voltage on the complementary bit line 28 increases more than the voltage increase on bit line 26. Amplifier 30, turned on by an appropriate signal described infra , senses this differential and drives bit line 26 to a logic zero (such as zero volts) and complementary bit line 28 to a logic one (such as positive five volts). This condition of the bit lines can be further amplified by driver amplifiers and provides the data output. It can be observed that capacitor 22 started in state D and remained there during the sensing operation. Next, the trailing edge of pulse 4 a occurs before the trailing edge of pulse 51. This means that the bottom plate of capacitor 22 will have zero volts on it (from plate line 34). Even though capacitor 22 will remain coupled to bit line 26 for a short time thereafter, line 26 is also at zero volts as a result of the sense operation. Consequently, with zero volts across capacitor 22, no state change occurs. Thus it is seen that if cell 20 a stores a logic one, no state change occurs to its capacitor and no restoration is required for it. If memory cell 20a stored a logic zero rather than a logic one, then even though the timing of signals remains the same, a different sequence of events transpires. This is because when plate line 34 is pulsed with a positive pulse (49 a ), the ferroelectric material in capacitor 22 will undergo a state change from state A to state D and thereby move more charge than capacitor 40. (Recall that capacitor 40 begins at state D from the initialization.) Hence, bit line 26 will be driven high and complementary bit line 28 will be driven low by sense amp 30 as a result of the voltage difference caused by the two memory cells 20a and 40. When the voltage on plate line 34 is returned to low, with word line 32 still high (because the trailing edge of pulse 51 lags behind the trailing edge of pulse 49 a ), the combination of a high voltage on the top plate of capacitor 22 (coupled from bit line 26 via the source-drain path of transistor 24) together with a low voltage on the bottom plate (coupled by plate line 34) restores the ferroelectric material of capacitor 22 to its original condition, state A, representing a logic zero. In short, by using this dummy cell arrangement, if a logic one is stored in the operational memory cell, no state change even occurs to that cell by a read operation. If a logic zero is stored, the cell is flipped during sensing but automatically restored by dropping the plate line low while leaving the capacitor coupled briefly to the bit line. It will be noted that pulse 4 b has the same timing as pulses 51, i.e. has coincident rising and trailing edges. This prevents dummy cell capacitor 40 from changing state during sense or restore. In the event that the addressed memory cell is on the right side of sense amp 30, then dummy cell 46 is used rather than dummy cell 40. Figure 4 illustrates a memory cell 50 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Memory cell 50 will store complementary binary data in a pair of ferroelectric capacitors 52, 54 each respectively coupled by source-drain paths of respective access transistors 56, 58 to a pair of bit lines 60, 62 both coupled to a sense and restore amplifier 64. A word line 66 is coupled to the gate electrodes of transistors 56, 58. A plate line 68 is coupled illustratively to the bottom plates of both capacitors 52, 54. It will be seen that plate line 68 is parallel to word line 66 in the schematic diagram. This occurs also in the physical layout of such a configuration wherein the word line 66 physically will be parallel to the plate line 68. If the binary data to be stored is a logic "one," then capacitor 52 will be in one state and capacitor 54 will be in the other state, whereas if the binary data is low, then the capacitors will be in the opposite states. In any event, the capacitors will be in complementary states. Assume the data is a logic one and that capacitor 52 illustratively is at state D (Fig. 1). Hence, according to this aspect of the present invention, capacitor 54 will be at state A representing a logic zero. The initial voltage on plate line 58 will be zero, and the initial voltage on bit lines 60, 62 will be zero. Accordingly, because no voltages are applied across the capacitors, there is no leakage. To select memory cell 50 and sense its stored data, a positive pulse of illustratively five volts, as represented at 70, is applied to plate line 68. Thus, the voltage at the bottom plates of capacitors 52 and 54 is brought to five volts. Also, the word line voltage is brought to five volts illustratively by a pulse 72. Pulses 70, 72 have coincident rising edges but pulse 72 endures longer, so that its trailing edge lags the trailing edge of pulse 70. It will be convenient to decode both the plate line and word line together. (At the end of the cycle, the plate line is dropped first, then the word line, and then both bit lines are precharged to zero.) As a result of pulses 70, 72 going high, transistors 56, 58 are turned on and a voltage of five volts is applied across both capacitors 52 and 54. Capacitor 52, it will be recalled, is in state D, and when the positive five volts is applied across it, relatively little charge flows as the polarization of the ferroelectric material moves illustratively to point C. However, as capacitor 54 is initially at state A, when the five volt signal is applied across the capacitor, the coercive voltage is exceeded, and the polarization of the ferroelectric material in the capacitor moves from state A to point C, drawing considerably more charge (and current) than capacitor 52 draws. Bit line 60, coupled to capacitor 52 through the source-drain path of transistor 56, will stay relatively close to zero volts notwithstanding the five volt signal applied to the lower plate of capacitor 52. However, because a significant current flows through capacitor 54 as it changes its polarization from state A to point C, the voltage on bit line 62 rises. Through an appropriate signal referred to as ⊘ sense (Fig. 7), sense amplifier 64 turns on and detects the difference in voltages between bit lines 60, 62 and drives the higher line, bit line 62, illustratively to plus five volts. It also drives bit line 60 to ground. This condition allows the data to be read via the bit lines. In this condition, the ferroelectric materials in capacitors 52, 54 are both in state D, unlike their original condition. To restore the original condition, according to another aspect of the invention, the plate line voltage is returned to zero volts while the word line voltage is still high and the bit lines are driven by the sense amplifier 64. This occurs by virtue of the trailing edge of pulse 72 lagging behind the trailing edge of pulse 70. Because the voltage on bit line 62 will be plus five volts, the voltage across capacitor 54 will be substantially five volts which will drive the polarization of the ferroelectric material within capacitor 54 from point C through state D to stable state A, which represents a logic zero. This is the condition in which capacitor 54 started, and capacitor 54 thus is restored. Capacitor 52, on the other hand, will not change in polarization when pulse 70 terminates because substantially zero volts is applied across it. It will therefore be appreciated that this arrangement entirely restores memory cell 50 to its original condition in a read operation and hence the circuitry is referred to as "self-restoring." After pulse 72 reaches its trailing edge, sense amp 64 is deactivated by the return of the signal ⊘ sense to zero volts. Next, the bit lines are precharged by shorting the bit lines to ground via the source-drain paths of further transistors and a ⊘ precharge signal. Another advantage of this arrangement is that no "disturb" voltage such as 2.5 volts is applied for any duration across a capacitor, and there is no major concern about a memory cell capacitor changing polarization state even though the voltage applied across it does not exceed a coercive voltage. Moreover, it is not necessary to have a well defined coercive voltage in the capacitors 52, 54 of the Figure 4 configuration. Further, a small hysteresis effect is all that is necessary for this arrangement. Referring to Figure 5, which illustrates an array of memory cells using the Figure 4 configuration, it will be appreciated that all memory cells in the row represented by a word line 66a, b or c and plate line 68a, b or c, each having a respective sense amplifier 64a, b, c or d, will be read by this operation because both the word line and plate line 66, 68 voltages will be initially decoded together and create the same conditions across the row. Thus, all of the sense amplifiers 64a, b, c and d will be active when any row is decoded. In Fig. 5, the sense amplifiers are coupled to bit line pairs 60a, 62a; 60b, 62b; 60c, 62c; and 60d, 62d. An alternate embodiment of the present invention overcomes this problem by running plate line 68 perpendicular to word line 66, as illustrated in Figure 6. Four memory cells are represented as 80a, 80b, 80c and 80d, all of a configuration like that of cell 50 (Fig. 5). Thus, each cell includes transistors 81 (81a, b, c or d) and ferroelectric capacitors 83 (83a, b, c or d). Cells 80a and 80c are in one row, having a word line 82. Cells 80b and 80d are in another row, having a word line 84. Cells 80a and 80b are in a left column and have a common bit line pair 86, 88 coupled to a sense amplifier 90. Cells 80c and 80d in a right column have common bit lines 92, 94 coupled to a sense amplifier 96. A single plate line 98 corresponds to the left column and a single plate line 100 corresponds to the right column, and thus each column has its own respective plate line. In the prior embodiment, each row had its own respective plate line. This arrangement saves tremendous power because to access cell 80a, for example, only word line 82 and plate line 98 are pulsed with a five volt signal. As a result, only cell 80a, and not cells 80b, 80c or 80d will be accessed. This is because the voltage on word line 82 will turn on all of the access transistors 81a, 81c in the top row, but a plate voltage will be applied to only the [two] capacitors 83a, 83b in the left column, i.e. , applied to cell 80a but not 80c. Thus, cell 80a is accessed in the manner described above. Cell 80b in the second row is not accessed because although a plate voltage is applied to its two capacitors 83b, the capacitors are isolated from the bit lines by the access transistors 81b which will remain in an off condition. Hence, only amplifier 90, and not amplifier 96, will draw significant power in the read operation. Figure 6 illustrates precharge circuitry usable in the other figures. It comprises transistors 102, 104, 106, 108 each having its source-drain path coupling bit lines 86, 88, 92, 94 respectively to ground when such transistors are gated to an on condition by a precharge signal ⊘ precharge coupled to the gate electrodes, as shown. Figure 7 illustrates a typical sense amplifier suitable for use as amplifiers 30, 64, 90 or 96. Any differential amplifier or amplifier setting up a "race" condition between two bit lines, as is well known in the semiconductor memory art, can be used, or other types can be employed which sense a greater voltage or current on one of two lines. This embodiment uses a cross coupled pair of p-channel transistors 110, 112 coupling a switched source of operating voltage, ⊘sense, to nodes 114, 116 respectively. Such nodes are cross coupled also to gate electrodes of n-channel transistors 118, 120 whose source-drain paths couple nodes 114 and 116 respectively to ground. Nodes 114 and 116 are coupled to the bit line pair in use, viz 26 and 28, 60 and 62, 86 and 88, or 92 and 94. It may be desirable to include a bootstrap driver for the word line to allow the full five volts to appear across the plates of the ferroelectric capacitors. However, if the coercive voltage is low, such as 0-5V, bootstrap drivers should not be needed. Figure 8 shows a decoder circuit for decoding the ⊘ word and ⊘ plate signals common to all word lines and plate lines in a memory to a single word and plate line identified by a unique combination of address data represented in Fig. 8 as A₀, A₁, A₂. A p-channel transistor 130 normally couples a VCC signal to a node 132. An inverter 132 is coupled to receive and invert the signal at node 132 and apply it to source-drain paths of n-channel transistors 134 and 136. Transistor 134 is coupled to the gate electrode of a transistor 138 whose source is coupled to the ⊘word signal. The drain is coupled to drive a word line, such as word line 32 (Fig. 3). Similarly, transistor 136 gates a transistor 140 having a source coupled to the plate signal ⊘ plate and a drain coupled to drive a plate line, such as plate line 34. Having described how to read with the present invention, the write process can be readily understood. A data-in buffer (commonly used in present dynamic and static RAMS) couples the bit lines to the data-in input. The sense amplifier will latch the state to be written when ⊘ sense rises, which causes data to be written into the cells. The arrangement of the present invention does not require the capacitors to have a well defined coercive voltage or absolute switching threshold. As long as the ferroelectric has a hysteresis loop with different paths, the present configuration will be useable. Additionally, no disturb pulse will destroy the data in a cell because even if the disturb pulse activated one of the capacitors to change its polarization, the self-restoring nature of this configuration would return the cell to its original condition. It should also be noted that it is not necessary for data to be written to opposite extremes on the hysteresis loop of Fig. 1. A logic zero can occur at zero volts with a polarization value between points A and D of Fig. 1. Such a level is written by applying a short high voltage pulse to the capacitor so that it has inadequate time to travel up the entire loop from a normal logic zero state (point A). This kind of partial hysteresis loop switching increases speed since the entire loop need not be traversed.

Claims: A non-volatile memory cell (20a;50;80) comprising a transistor (24;56,58;81) and a capacitor (22;52,54;83), the memory cell being coupled to a bit line (26,28;60,62;86,88;92,94), a word line (32;66;82,84), and a plate line (34;98,100), wherein the word line is connected to control the operation of the transistor and wherein the capacitor is a ferroelectric capacitor having a ferroelectric material as dielectric, characterised in that the polarization state of the ferroelectric material stores the data state of the memory cell; wherein the transistor has a path of controllable conductivity which, along with the ferroelectric capacitor, is connected serially between the plate line and the bit line so that when the polarization state of the ferroelectric material of the memory cell is read, the ferroelectric capacitor is coupled to the bit line to develop a voltage thereon in response to a read signal (70) on the plate line, and when the cell is written to, a data state is stored by polarization of the ferroelectric material based on the combination of the bit line and plate line voltages. The memory cell of claim 1 wherein the capacitor has first and second plate electrodes, and wherein the second plate electrode is connected to the plate line and the first plate electrode is connected to the transistor (24;56,58;81). The memory cell of claim 1 or 2 including a sense amplifier (30;64;90,96) coupled to the bit line for driving the bit line in accordance with the data content of the memory cell to maintain the voltage level of the bit line after the data of the memory cell has been read, thereby to restore, for at least one data state, the polarization of the capacitor of the memory cell when the read signal (49a,70) controlling the plate line has terminated. A memory cell according to claim 2 or claims 2 and 3 wherein the transistor comprises a field effect transistor (24;56,58;81) the gate terminal of which is electrically coupled to the word line (32;66;82,84) and the source and drain terminals of which are connected between the first plate electrode of the capacitor (22;52,54;83) and the bit line (26;60,62;86,88;92,94). The memory cell of claim 1 or 2 further including a second transistor (56,58;81) and a second ferroelectric capacitor (52,54;83) having two plate electrodes; wherein a second bit line (60,62;86-94) is connected to the memory cell; wherein both of said bit lines are coupled to a sense amplifier (64;90,96); wherein the polarization state of both of the ferroelectric capacitors is complementary and represents the data stored in the memory cell; wherein the plate line is coupled to corresponding second plate electrodes of the first and second ferroelectric capacitors of the memory cell; wherein reading the data stored in the cell destroys or reverses the polarization of one of the two capacitors, and wherein the sense amplifier (64;90,96) drives the bit line corresponding to the destroyed polarization in accordance with the data content of the memory cell to maintain the voltage level of the bit lines after the data from the memory cell has been read for restoring the destroyed or reversed polarization when the read signal (70) controlling the plate line has terminated. The memory cell of claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 which does not include other active storage elements. A ferroelectric memory array comprising a plurality of memory cells according to any of claims 1 to 4 arranged in rows and columns, each column comprising a plurality of memory cells coupled to said bit line (26;86,88;92,94), the memory array comprising a plurality of word lines (32;66;82,84) and plate lines (34;68;98,100) distinct from said word lines and bit lines, each word line being coupled to control the transistors of memory cells in a common row, wherein each plate line (34;68;98,100) is connected to the second plate electrodes of ferroelectric capacitors of a plurality of memory cells. A memory array according to claim 7 which is coupled to a plurality of sense amplifiers (64a,b,c,d;90,96) associated respectively with the bit lines of the memory array. A memory array according to claim 8 further comprising a dummy cell (36) coupled to each sense amplifier. A memory array according to claim 9 wherein the dummy cell comprises a second transistor (38) and a second ferroelectric capacitor (40), one plate electrode of the second ferroelectric capacitor being coupled via the second transistor to the sense amplifier (30) and the other plate electrode of the ferroelectric capacitor of the dummy cell being coupled to a dummy plate line (44). A memory array according to any of claims 7 to 10 wherein the plate lines of the memory cells are coupled to a decoder. A memory array according to any of claims 7 to 10 in which the word lines (66) and the plate lines (68) are connected to rows of memory cells in the array. A memory array according to any of claims 7 to 10 in which the word lines (82,84) are connected to rows of memory cells in the array and the plate lines (98,100) are connected to columns of memory cells in the array. A memory comprising a plurality of memory cells according to claim 1, a plurality of bit lines, a plurality of word lines, a plurality of plate lines, the plurality of said memory cells being connected to corresponding bit lines, word lines, and plate lines, wherein each said plate line is connected to a plurality of the memory cells along a row or a column of said memory cells. The memory of claim 14 wherein each said memory cell includes a respective transistor (24;56,58;81) located within the memory cell, a first plate electrode of said capacitor in each said cell being coupled to its corresponding bit line via said transistor, said transistor being coupled to be controlled by its corresponding word line, and a second plate electrode of said capacitor in said cell being coupled to its corresponding plate line. A memory comprising a plurality of memory cells according to any of claims 2 to 6, a plurality of bit lines, a plurality of word lines, a plurality of plate lines, the plurality of said memory cells being connected to corresponding bit lines, word lines, and plate lines, wherein each said plate line is connected to a plurality of the memory cells along a row or column of said memory cells. A method of storing binary data in a non-volatile fashion and reading the data, including storing data in a capacitor in a memory cell wherein the capacitor is a ferroelectric capacitor (22;52,54;83) having ferroelectric dielectric between a pair of plate electrodes, the data being stored by controlling voltages applied across the capacitor, including driving a bit line (26;60,62;86,88;92,94) coupled to the capacitor, thereby directly to polarize the ferroelectric material in accordance with the data state; wherein the reading includes the steps of a) applying a pulse (49a;70) to one of the plate electrodes of the capacitor, b) sensing the data from the cell via the bit line connected to the cell, and c) maintaining the voltage level of the bit line after the data from the memory cell has been read for restoring any destroyed polarization state of the capacitor when the pulse (49a;70) has terminated. The method of claim 17 wherein the pulse (49a;70) is applied to one plate electrode of the capacitor via a plate line (34;68;98,100). The method of claim 17 or 18 including controlling a switching device (24;56,58;81) within the memory cell to turn on in connection with the step a) of applying a pulse (49a;70) to the one plate electrode, and controlling the switching device to remain turned on after the pulse has terminated so that the bit line voltage is applied across the capacitor. The method of claim 19 wherein the switching device (24;56,58;81) is controlled by a word line pulse (51;72) having a rising edge substantially coincident with a rising edge of the pulse (49a;70) applied to the plate electrode. The method of any of claims 17 to 19 wherein the maintaining step c) includes using a sense amplifier (30;64;90,96) for maintaining the bit line voltage. The method of any of claims 17 to 21 wherein the method does not include operating other active storage elements in the memory cell. The method of any of claims 17 to 22 wherein there is a plurality of cells and wherein in step a) a pulse (49a;70) is applied to a plurality of capacitors of said plurality of cells. A method of reading data from and restoring data to a ferroelectric capacitor in a non-volatile memory cell within an array of memory cells organised into rows and columns, each memory cell in the array including a respective ferroelectric capacitor, where two polarization states of a said capacitor at a reference voltage correspond to two binary logic levels, comprising the steps of: applying a signal (51;72) to a word line (32;66;82,84) along the row corresponding to the memory cell for turning on a switchable device (24;56,58;81) located within the memory cell and thereby coupling one plate of said capacitor (22;52,54;83) to a bit line (26;60,62;86,88,92,94) corresponding to the column, and turning on other switchable devices for other cells along the word line in the same step; applying a non-zero voltage (49a,70) across the plates of said capacitors in a plurality of said cells along the row while said switchable devices in said cells are turned on; comparing the signal developed on the bit line corresponding to the memory cell to a comparison signal thereby to determine the logic state of the data; and terminating the non-zero voltage and the word line signal at different times so that the word line signal terminates after the non-zero voltage terminates; wherein said step of applying a non-zero voltage comprises applying a pulse (49a;70) to the other plate of said capacitor, said pulse terminating at a first trailing edge, said switchable device remaining conductive after said first trailing edge, and wherein said bit line is driven to a voltage level corresponding to the data read from said capacitor thereby to restore a ferroelectric polarization state to said capacitor. A method according to claim 24 wherein said comparison signal is developed from a second ferroelectric capacitor (40;54;83). A method according to claim 25 wherein said comparing step includes operating a sense amplifer (30;64;90,96) having one input coupled to said bit line, and having another input coupled to a second bit line which is coupled to said second ferroelectric capacitor. A method according to any of claims 24 to 26 wherein said steps of turning on a switchable device and applying a non-zero voltage commence simultaneously. A method according to any of claims 24 to 27 wherein the reading or restoring step is further characterised by turning on at the same time said word line and a plate line coupled to said other plates of said ferroelectric capacitors and turning them off at separate times. A method according to claim 28 wherein each said plate line is connected to a plurality of the memory cells along a row or a column of said memory cells.

Inventors: EATON S SHEFFIELD JR, EATON, S. SHEFFIELD, JR.
Applicants: RAMTRON INT CORP, RAMTRON INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
Application year: 1987
Main classification: G11C11
IPC codes: H01L27, H01L21, G11C14, G11C11