Temperature Independent Reference Current Generation For Calibration

Abstract

Disclosed herein are techniques for generating a temperature independent reference current, which may be used during calibration. The temperature independent reference current may be generated based on a current through an on-chip calibration resistor. This alleviates the need for an off chip calibration resistor, which can be costly and cause slow calibration. A voltage at one terminal of the on chip calibration resistor may be modulated to substantially cancel a temperature coefficient of the on chip calibration resistor. This may result in the current passing through the on chip calibration resistor being temperature independent. The temperature independent reference current may be compared with a calibration current in a ZQ calibration circuit.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus comprising:
 a reference current generation circuit configured to generate a temperature independent reference current based on a current through a calibration resistor that resides on an integrated circuit and to provide the temperature independent reference current to a calibration node;   a variable impedance circuit coupled to the calibration node; and   a comparator having a first input coupled to the calibration node and a second input coupled to a reference voltage.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the calibration resistor has a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein a resistance of the calibration resistor has a temperature coefficient, wherein the reference current generation circuit comprises:
 a reference voltage circuit that is configured to provide a voltage that is substantially equal to the reference voltage to the first terminal of the calibration resistor;   a voltage modulating circuit coupled to the second terminal of the calibration resistor, wherein the voltage modulating circuit is configured to modulate a voltage at the second terminal of the calibration resistor to substantially cancel the temperature coefficient of the calibration resistor, wherein current passing through the calibration resistor is temperature independent; and   a temperature independent reference current circuit configured to derive the temperature independent reference current from the temperature independent current passing through the calibration resistor.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the temperature coefficient of the calibration resistor is a positive temperature coefficient, wherein the resistance of the calibration resistor increases with increases in temperature, wherein the voltage modulating circuit is configured to decrease the voltage at the second terminal of the calibration resistor as temperature increases. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the calibration resistor has a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein a resistance of the calibration resistor has a temperature coefficient, wherein the reference current generation circuit comprises:
 a reference voltage circuit that is configured to provide a voltage that is substantially equal to the reference voltage to the first terminal of the calibration resistor;   a temperature dependent voltage generation circuit coupled to the second terminal of the calibration resistor, wherein the temperature dependent voltage generation circuit is configured to generate a voltage at the second terminal that has a temperature coefficient configured to substantially cancel the temperature coefficient of the calibration resistor; and   a temperature independent reference current circuit configured to provide the temperature independent reference current to the calibration node based on a current through the calibration resistor.   
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the temperature coefficient of the calibration resistor is a positive temperature coefficient, wherein the resistance of the calibration resistor increases with increases in temperature, wherein the temperature coefficient of the voltage at the second terminal is a negative temperature coefficient, wherein the voltage at the second terminal of the calibration resistor decreases with increases in temperature. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the temperature dependent voltage generation circuit comprises:
 a voltage modulation resistor having a node coupled to the second terminal of the calibration resistor; and   a proportional to temperature circuit configured to provide a current proportional to temperature through the voltage modulation resistor.   
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the proportional to temperature circuit is configured to establish a magnitude of the current that is proportional to temperature to modulate the voltage at the node that is coupled to the second terminal of the calibration resistor to substantially cancel the temperature coefficient of the calibration resistor. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the reference current generation circuit is configured to generate the temperature independent reference current to have a magnitude that is substantially equal to the reference voltage divided by a target resistance to which the variable impedance circuit is being calibrated. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the variable impedance circuit is configured to output to the calibration node a current having a magnitude that is inversely proportional to an impedance of the variable impedance circuit, wherein the comparator is configured to output a signal that responds to a difference between the variable impedance circuit current and the temperature independent reference current, wherein the signal indicates whether the variable impedance circuit current is greater than or less than the temperature independent reference current. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 logic configured to modify the impedance of the variable impedance circuit responsive to the signal that indicates whether the variable impedance circuit current is greater than or less than the temperature independent reference current to substantially balance the variable impedance circuit current with the temperature independent reference current.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , further comprising logic configured to modify the impedance of the variable impedance circuit responsive to the signal that is output by the comparator to perform a ZQ calibration. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a three-dimensional memory array comprising a plurality of non-volatile storage elements.   
     
     
         13 . A non-volatile storage device comprising:
 a plurality of non-volatile storage elements;   a reference current generation circuit that comprises a calibration resistor having a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein the first terminal is coupled to a voltage source that provides a first voltage, wherein resistance of the calibration resistor has a positive temperature coefficient, wherein the reference current generation circuit is configured to modulate a second voltage at the second terminal of the calibration resistor to cancel the positive temperature coefficient of the calibration resistor to cause a current passing through the calibration resistor to be temperature independent, wherein the reference current generation circuit is configured to provide to a calibration node a temperature independent reference current based on the current passing through the calibration resistor;   a variable current circuit configured to output a calibration current to the calibration node;   a comparator having a first input that is coupled to the calibration node and a second input that is coupled to a node that provides a third voltage, wherein the comparator is configured to output a signal that indicates whether the calibration current is greater than or less than the temperature independent reference current; and   a calibration circuit configured to cause the variable current circuit to change a magnitude of the calibration current based on the signal that indicates whether the calibration current is greater than or less than the temperature independent reference current.   
     
     
         14 . The non-volatile storage device of  claim 13 , wherein the first voltage is equal in magnitude to the third voltage. 
     
     
         15 . The non-volatile storage device of  claim 13 , wherein the variable current circuit comprises an input and a plurality of transistors coupled to the calibration node to provide the calibration current, wherein the variable current circuit is configured to select transistors to modify a magnitude of the calibration current. 
     
     
         16 . The non-volatile storage device of  claim 13 , wherein the reference current generation circuit further comprises:
 a proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) circuit configured to generate a PTAT current, wherein the reference current generation circuit is configured to modulate the second voltage at the second terminal of the calibration resistor based on the PTAT current.   
     
     
         17 . The non-volatile storage device of  claim 16 , wherein the reference current generation circuit further comprises:
 a band gap reference resistor having a node coupled to the PTAT circuit, wherein the PTAT current is configured to cause the PTAT current to flow through the band gap reference resistor to create a band gap reference voltage at the node coupled to the PTAT circuit; and   a voltage modulation resistor having a node coupled to the second terminal of the calibration resistor;   wherein the reference current generation circuit is configured to provide a net current that flows through the band gap reference resistor to the voltage modulation resistor to generate a temperature dependent voltage on the node of the voltage modulation resistor that is coupled to the second terminal of the calibration resistor, wherein the reference current generation circuit is configured to provide the temperature dependent voltage to the second terminal of the calibration resistor to nullify the positive temperature coefficient of the calibration resistor.   
     
     
         18 . A method comprising:
 supplying a reference voltage to a first terminal of a calibration resistor that has a resistance that has a positive temperature coefficient, wherein the calibration resistor resides on an integrated circuit;   generating a compensating voltage having a negative temperature coefficient;   providing the compensating voltage to a second terminal of the calibration resistor, wherein the compensating voltage substantially nullifies the positive temperature coefficient of the calibration resistor, wherein a current through the calibration resistor has a magnitude that is independent of temperature;   providing, to a calibration node, a temperature independent reference current that reflects the current through the calibration resistor;   providing a calibration signal to a variable impedance circuit to cause the variable impedance circuit to output a calibration current to the calibration node;   comparing the calibration current with the temperature independent reference current; and   adjusting the calibration signal based on a result of comparing the calibration current with the temperature independent reference current.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the adjusting the calibration signal based on the result of comparing the calibration current with the temperature independent reference current comprises:
 performing a ZQ calibration.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the generating a compensating voltage having a negative temperature coefficient comprises:
 generating a proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) current; and   generating the compensating voltage based on the PTAT current.   
     
     
         21 . A non-volatile storage device comprising:
 calibration current supplying means for supplying to a calibration node a calibration current having a magnitude that is proportional to an input code;   voltage modulating means for modulating a voltage at a calibration resistor with a resistance having a positive temperature coefficient to substantially cancel the positive temperature coefficient of the calibration resistor to cause a current passing through the calibration resistor to be temperature independent, wherein the calibration resistor resides on an integrated circuit of the non-volatile storage device;   temperature independent reference current providing means for providing a temperature independent reference current to the calibration node based on the current passing through the calibration resistor;   comparison means for comparing the calibration current with the temperature independent reference current to determine whether the calibration current is less than or greater than the temperature independent reference current; and   input code modification means for modifying the input code to the calibration current supplying means responsive to whether the calibration current is less than or greater than the temperature independent reference current.