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:
Feb. 08, 2011
Filed:
Sep. 03, 2008
Applicants:
Tsuyoshi Koike, Kyoto, JP;
Yuichirou Ikeda, Kyoto, JP;
Akira Masuo, Kyoto, JP;
Inventors:
Assignee:
Panasonic Corporation, Osaka, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G11C 7/00 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
A precharge circuit steps up a voltage of a bit line connected to a memory cell to a power supply voltage. A plurality of step-down circuits step down the voltage of the bit line to a voltage level lower than the power supply voltage before data is read from the memory cell. The plurality of step-down circuits are connected to the bit line, and the plurality of step-down circuits are controlled by step-down control signals different to each other.