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:
Apr. 03, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 15, 2000
Takayuki Kawaguchi, Yokohama, JP;
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, JP;
Abstract
An object of the present invention is to enlarge voltage amplitude of bit lines at a short time when reading out data from memory cells. A semiconductor memory device according to the present invention comprises an initialization circuit,constituted of a plurality of memory cells MC,, MC,-MCn, precharge transistors Q,and Q,, and an equalizing transistor Q,, and a load circuit constituted of load transistors Q,and Q,. When reading out data from the memory cells MC,-MCn, supply of electric charge to bit lines BLA and BLB by the load transistors Q,and Q,is temporarily interrupted. Because of this, it is possible to enlarge the voltage amplitude of the bit lines BLA and BLB from the power supply voltage VDD as compared with the case of always supplying the electric charge to the bit lines BLA and BLB from the power supply voltage VDD. Furthermore, the semiconductor memory device of the present invention interrupts the supply of the electric charge to the bit lines BLA and BLB during writing to the memory cells MC,-MCn. Because of this, it is possible to reduce the current consumption, thereby improving write margin.