The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 31, 1993
Filed:
Nov. 14, 1990
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, JP;
Abstract
A random access memory (RAM) array has a dummy word line having a similar pattern to the word lines provided for the RAM cells. A transistor having the same channel width and channel length as one of the transistors in the RAM cells has its gate connected to the dummy word line. An inverter is formed of three transistors including the transistor having its gate connected to the dummy word line, with the output of the inverter connected to a capacitor. The capacitance of the capacitor is set close to the capacitance of a bus line of the RAM to adjust the dummy word line and the word lines of the RAM circuits to have the same transfer delay. If the capacitance of the capacitor is made slightly smaller than the bus line capacitance, the potential at the output of the inverter can be changed by this difference. The output of the inverter is detected, and can be used as a drive signal to drive a sense amplifier used to read the RAM cells. Further, the signal traveling through the dummy word line can be used as a precharge signal.