Devices and systems including enabling circuits

Abstract

This disclosure describes examples of devices and systems that include enabling circuits. Two voltage supplies can be used to operate different parts of the device, including peripheral circuits and I / O circuits. When the voltage supply to the peripheral circuits of one or more devices is disabled, the I / O circuits of the devices may be disabled. In some examples, power can be advantageously saved in part by eliminating or reducing the DC current path through the I / O circuitry.

Description

technical field [0001] Embodiments of the invention relate generally to semiconductor memory, and more particularly describe an example of an interface circuit for a dual supply voltage memory. Background technique [0002] With the increasing popularity of electronic devices such as laptop computers, portable digital assistants, digital cameras, mobile phones, digital audio players, video game consoles, etc., the demand for non-volatile memory is also rising. Non-volatile memory comes in various types, including flash memory. Flash memory is widely used today for fast information storage in electronic devices such as those mentioned above. Flash memory cells are generally programmed by storing charge on a floating gate. Thereafter, charge can remain on the gate for an infinite period, even after power has been removed from the flash memory device. Thus, flash memory devices are non-volatile. [0003] Charge is stored on the floating gate by applying appropriate voltages...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

In some instances, the externally supplied voltage used to generate the boosted voltage for read and program operations may be too high to be desirable for use by the input / output buffers

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