Regulation method for the source voltage in a nonvolatile memory cell during programming and corresponding program circuit

摘要

The invention relates to a method and a circuit for regulating the source terminal (S) voltage to the of a non-volatile memory cell (3) during the cell programming and/or reading phases. The method comprises a phase of locally regulating said voltage value and consists of comparing the source current (Is) of the cell array (3) with a reference current (Iref). A fraction of the source current (Is) is converted to a voltage and compared with a voltage generated from a memory cell acting as a reference and being programmed to the distribution with the highest current levels; the comparison result being used for controlling a current generator (25) to inject, into the source terminal (S), the current necessary to keep the predetermined voltage thereof at a constant value. <IMAGE>