Patent · US Expired

Semiconductor memory circuit

US4388705A · kind A · utility

76Cited by
5References
7Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateOct 1, 1981
Grant dateJun 14, 1983
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 1, 2001

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C17/126
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A semiconductor memory circuit (10) has a plurality of word lines (12, 14), column lines (16, 18) and bit lines (20, 22). A memory cell transistor (30) has the gate terminal connected to the word line (12) and the drain and source terminals connected between the bit line (20) and the column line (16). A reference transistor (106) is connected to the word line (12) to provide a reference signal for input to a sense amplifier (136). A data line (54) is connected to the bit line (20) to provide the data state from the data storage transistor (30) to the sense amplifier (136). The data bit line (20) and reference bit line (104) are clamped at different pull down voltages. The memory circuit (10) includes a reference circuit that has reference transistor (106) which operates statically to provide a reference signal for the sense amplifier (136). When the word lines are being sequentially accessed the reference signal produced by the reference circuit rises to a higher average voltage and enhances the operating speed of the memory.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.