THERMALLY ASSISTED FLASH MEMORY WITH SEGMENTED WORD LINES

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique for improving the speed of operation and endurance of a flash memory.SOLUTION: A memory comprises an array of memory cells including rows and columns, the array including segmented word lines along the rows. The segments of the segmented word lines include local word lines. First and second switches are coupled to corresponding first and second ends of the local word lines. The memory includes circuitry coupled to the first and second switches to connect bias voltages to the local word lines to induce an electric current flow for thermal anneal. The circuitry includes pairs of global word lines along corresponding rows. The pairs of global word lines include first global word lines coupled to the first switches in the local word lines along the corresponding rows, and second global word lines coupled to the second switches in the local word lines along the corresponding rows. The memory includes bit lines along corresponding columns. The bit lines can include local bit lines coupled to global bit lines.