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Abstract

An improved programmable logic device (PLD) is disclosed which employs electrically erasable memory cells which can be programmed and erased at high speed. The PLD memory cells comprise floating gate transistors as the storage elements, which are programmed and erased by Fowler-Nordheim tunneling. The PLD includes a serial register latch (SRL) which is coupled to the product terms of the PLD array. Input programming data for a selected row of the array is serially entered into the SRL, and during a programming cycle the SRL data is employed to simultaneously program the storage elements of the selected row to either the enhancement mode or the depletion mode. The data programmed into the array may be verified at high speed. The status of each of the cells in the selected row can be sensed using the normal sense amplifiers and loaded into the SRL in parallel, and thereafter serially shifted out of the PLD for external verification. The PLD output logic and sense amplifiers can be functionally validated independent of the data in the array. Test data such as apparent array patterns are serially loaded into the SRL, and thereafter forced onto the normal sense amplifier inputs, propagated through the output logic and read out of the device output pin.

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First Claim