Automatic rapid programming of large arrays of floating-gate elements

Abstract

The use of floating-gate elements on analog circuits has increased over the last few years. Floating-gate transistors are been used for analog multiplication, memory storage, on-chip bias, offset removals, etc. Complex systems, such as imagers and filter arrays, use thousands to millions of programmable floating-gate elements. The programming speed and precision of these elements plays a major role on the performance of these systems. In this paper we present a system approach that allows for automatic rapid programming of large arrays of floating-gates. We achieve this by optimizing all the time consuming tasks involved in the programming, such as current measurements and drain pulsing among others.