Electrically programmable semiconductor device with concurrent program and verification operations

摘要

An electronically programmable semiconductor memory device that concurrently programs floating gate memory cells in the semiconductor memory device and verifies the programming of the memory cells is disclosed. Source-side voltage monitoring of the memory cells is used to verify programming concurrently with the programming of the memory cells. Threshold voltages of the memory cells are able to be programmed to three or more distinct voltage levels. Only a limited amount of die area is needed to obtain both high speed programming and concurrent verification.