METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TESTING A RESISTIVE MEMORY ELEMENT

摘要

Methods and apparatus for testing a resistive memory element (105) are provided. In an example, an initial test resistor in a resistance network (410) coupled to a first input of a sense amplifier (405) is selected (705), where the resistive memory element (105) is coupled to a second input of the sense amplifier and an output of the sense amplifier is measured (710). Another test resistor is selected (715) based on the output of the sense amplifier and both the measuring the output step and the selecting another test resistor step are repeated until the output of the sense amplifier changes. A resistance of the resistive memory element is estimated (730) based on the last test resistor selected, where the selected test resistors and the resistive memory element pass respective currents having substantially similar amplitudes and are coupled to respective access transistors (110, 505) having substantially similar properties.