1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an unbalanced latch and to a fully static low-consumption fuse circuit including such a latch.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
It is known that a static RAM cell or any element of a register that can be implemented in microprocessors requires an appropriate presetting circuit when the device is switched on. Therefore, a static RAM must have a predictable initial memorization state, obtained by pre-memorizing information in the individual cells that constitute the RAM memory.
During manufacture, each cell is preset so as to represent a binary zero or one, so that during operation the state of the cell can switch in order to store binary information.
As already mentioned, in order to pre-memorize binary information in RAM cells it is necessary to have an appropriate presetting circuit. Such a circuit is a drawback because it increases the size of the circuit.
On the other hand, that it is well-known nonvolatile memories of the EPROM, EEPROM, and FLASH types, use fuses having the purposes of storing events and providing programmable configurations. In redundancy circuits, the fuses are used to store the address of the memory line that is replaced with the redundancy circuit.
Static fuses are furthermore used for the configuration of integrated circuits in a nonvolatile manner, in which they can assume switching properties. Another application of fuses is the programming of delays and jumps in a nonvolatile manner.
A drawback of known fuses is that they are relatively complicated and occupy a considerable portion of silicon on an integrated circuit due to the number of components used.
Another drawback is that the fuses are protected against accidental programming, known as "soft-writing", in a complicated manner.
Furthermore, when a fuse not yet programmed, called a "virgin" state, it has a considerable consumption. This consumption, multiplied by the number of fuses provided in an integrated circuit, is not negligible.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds