NON-VOLATILE PASSIVE MATRIX AND METHOD FOR READOUT OF THE SAME

摘要

In a non-volatile passive matrix memory device (10) comprising an electrical ly polarizable dielectric memory material (12) exhibiting hysteresis between first and second sets (14; 15) of addressing electrodes constituting word lines (WL) and bit lines (BL) of the memory device. A memory cell (13) is defined in the memory material (12) at the overlap between a word line (WL) and a bit line (BL). The word lines (WL) are divided into segments (S) each segment sharing and being defined by adjoining bit lines (BL). Means (25) ar e provided for connecting each bit lines (BL) of a segment (S) with a sensing means (26) enabling simultaneous connections of all memory cells (13) of a word line segment (15) for readout via the bit lines (BL). Each sensing mean s (26) senses the charge flow in a bit line (BL) in order to determine a store d logicalvalue. In a readout method,a word line (WL) of a segment (S) is activated by setting its potential to a switching voltage Vs of the memory cell (13) during at least a portion of a read cycle, while keeping the bit lines (BL) of a segment (S) at zero potential, during which read cycle a logical value stored in the individual memory cells (13) is sensed by the sensing means (26).