Renesas Technology Corp.

Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi Ulsi Engineering Corp.

Hitachi Ulsi Systems Co., Ltd.

Other

Hiroshi Toyoshima

Kunihiro Komiyaji

Atsuhiro Hayashi

Takemi Negishi

Yoji Nishio

Atsushi Hiraishi

Hideharu Yahata

Sadayuki Morita

Kenichi Fukui

Takahiro Sonoda

Masahiko Nishiyama

Haruko Kawachino

Masashige Harada

Tomohiro Nagano

Hirofumi Zushi

Koichiro Ishibashi

Kiyotsugu Ueda

Takashi Uehara

Daisuke Shimadu

The present invention provides a semiconductor integrated circuit that can perform impedance control and slew rate control independently of each other and simplify the structure of a control circuit. An output circuit comprising plural output MOSFETs connected in parallel is used, from among the plural output MOSFETs, the number of output MOSFETS to be turned on is selected by a first control means to control output impedance, and slew rate is controlled by a second control means controlling a drive signal of the output MOSFETs to be turned on.

Semiconductor integrated circuit controlling output impedance and slew rate

The invention intends to provide a technique that achieves a sufficient phase margin with ease. The circuit includes a power supply circuit that is formed with a phase compensating resistor and a phase compensating capacitor, between a second input terminal of a differential amplifier and a low supply voltage. Thereby, the first pole frequency in the overall gain is determined by the first pole frequency in the voltage-dividing resistor stage in the Bode diagram for the pole/zero compensation, which is shifted to a lower frequency. Also, the zero point cancels the first pole frequency in the differential amplifier stage, which reduces the phase delay to secure the phase margin. And, since the phase compensating resistor can take a considerably high resistance, the same characteristic can be achieved with a low capacitance of the phase compensating capacitor; thereby, the phase compensation becomes possible with a resistor and a capacitor having a smaller size than the pole/zero compensation with the internal supply voltage.

Semiconductor integrated circuit device

The invention provides a semiconductor integrated circuit device having a signal transmission path realizing high speed and low power consumption with a simple configuration. The device has a signal transmission path for transmitting a signal by discharging one of first signal lines corresponding to complementary input signals in a plurality of first signal lines precharged by a precharge circuit, and a self reset circuit for detecting the discharge level of the pair of signal lines corresponding to the complementary signals out of the plurality of first signal lines and operating the precharge circuit at a timing later than the period of discharging.

Memory integrated circuit device having self reset circuit for precharging data buses based on the detection of their discharge levels

A semiconductor integrated circuit device, which is intended to prevent the characteristic degradation, includes multiple limiter circuits which are laid out by being scattered across a semiconductor substrate to produce an internal power voltage of a certain voltage level. Each limiter circuit is laid out so as to have its transistor formation area located just beneath the formation area of a bump electrode which puts in an externally supplied power voltage. The scattered layout of limiter circuits avoids the concentration of current to one limiter circuit and alleviates the harmful heat-up of the limiter circuits and their periphery. The shorter wiring length from the bump electrode to the transistor results in a smaller wiring resistance, alleviating the power voltage drop on the wiring.

Semiconductor integrated circuit device with a plurality of limiter circuits

A sense amplifier, which is intended to reduce the output response time after it has received a small voltage difference until it delivers amplified output signals, consists of a latch circuit made up of a pair of CMOS inverters, a pair of NMOS transistors connected in parallel to the latch circuit, and a current source connected in series to the latch circuit and NMOS transistor pair. The NMOS transistors amplify a small voltage difference of input signals, and the inverters of the latch circuit further amplify the resulting voltage difference to produce the output signals. Based on a small voltage difference of input signals being amplified in two stages and the amplifying circuit being 2-stage serial connection of the current source and the NMOS transistor or CMOS inverter, the delay time of output response can be reduced.

Sense amplifier circuit

A sense amplifier, which is intended to reduce the output response time after it has received a small voltage difference until it delivers amplified output signals, consists of a latch circuit made up of a pair of CMOS inverters, a pair of NMOS transistors connected in parallel to the latch circuit, and a current source connected in series to the latch circuit and NMOS transistor pair. The NMOS transistors amplify a small voltage difference of input signals, and the inverters of the latch circuit further amplify the resulting voltage difference to produce the output signals. Based on is a small voltage difference of input signals being amplified in two stages and the amplifying circuit being a 2-stage serial connection of the current source and the NMOS transistor or CMOS inverter, the delay time of output response can be reduced.

A semiconductor memory device is provided which is able to supply data at high speed to a microprocessor (MPU) without being affected by the dispersion of power supply voltage, temperature and production process conditions. A semiconductor chip includes an address buffer, a decoder, a word driver, data lines, a sense amplifier, a main amplifier, an output buffer, and a PLL to which an external clock is applied. The PLL generates controls signals .PHI..sub.1 through .PHI..sub.7 with their phases shifted in turn, and supplies them to those internal circuits ranging from the address buffer to the output buffer. The PLL can control the phases of these control signals to be constant without being affected by the variations of temperature and power supply voltage. Thus, the internal circuits are precharged or equalized by the control signals, and then operated by the control signals to amplify data signal in turn. Therefore, the operating cycle time can be shortened as compared with the access time, and the access time can be kept constant.

Semiconductor memory device

A sense amplifier, which is intended to reduce the output response time after it has received a small voltage difference until it delivers amplified output signals, consists of a latch circuit made up of a pair of CMOS inverters, a pair of NMOS transistors connected in parallel to the latch circuit, and a current source connected in series to the latch circuit and NMOS transistor pair. The NMOS transistors amplify a small voltage difference of input signals, and the inverters of the latch circuit further amplify the resulting voltage difference to produce the output signals. Based on is a small voltage difference of input signals being amplified in two stages and the amplifying circuit being of 2-stage serial connection of the current source and the NMOS transistor or CMOS inverter, the delay time of output response can be reduced.

Growing community of inventors

Akiruno, Japan

Hiroshi Toyoshima