Semiconductor memory device having a sleep mode
US5563839A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 30, 1995 |
| Grant date | Oct 8, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 30, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG11C14/00
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The present invention provides a computer memory device having a sleep mode characterized by extremely low current consumption and relatively large turn on delay. The invention includes circuitry for disabling current sinking elements internal to said device in response to a sleep signal. In one embodiment, the invention includes circuitry for disconnecting the bit lines and memory cell loads of a nonvolatile static random access memory (nvSRAM) array from a source of power in response to a sleep signal. This embodiment is capable of first transferring the data stored in a volatile portion of the array to a nonvolatile portion of the array before entering sleep mode to prevent loss of the data.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.