Reducing the power consumption of memory devices

摘要

Systems and methods for reducing the power consumption of memory devices. A method of operating a memory device may include monitoring a plurality of sense amplifiers, each sense amplifier configured to evaluate a logic value stored in a memory cell, determining whether each of the plurality of sense amplifiers has completed its evaluation, and stopping a reference current from being provided to the sense amplifiers in response to all of the sense amplifiers having completed their evaluations. An electronic circuit may include memory cells, sense amplifiers coupled to the memory cells, transition detection circuits coupled to the sense amplifiers, and control circuitry coupled to the transition detection circuits, the transition detection circuits configured to stop a reference current from being provided to the sense amplifiers if each transition detection circuit determines that its respective sense amplifier has identified a logic value stored in a respective memory cell.

主权项

1. A method of operating a memory, the method comprising:
monitoring a plurality of sense amplifiers, each of the plurality of sense amplifiers configured to evaluate a logic value stored in a respective memory cell based upon a comparison between a reference current and the respective memory cell's output current; determining whether each of the plurality of sense amplifiers has completed its evaluation based upon the monitoring; and stopping the reference current from being provided to the plurality of sense amplifiers in response to all of the plurality of sense amplifiers having completed their evaluations.