Patent · US Expired

Semiconductor storage and its refreshing method

US6944081B2 · kind B2 · utility

19Cited by
7References
26Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 30, 2001
Grant dateSep 13, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 29, 2021

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C11/406
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A semiconductor memory device capable of a further reduction in power consumption for refresh operation is provided. Cell arrays S0, S1 are divided into respective four blocks B0˜B3 and B10˜B13. In a normal read/write operation, by address data designating a word line, one of the cell arrays is selected, and also one block is selected in the selected cell array, and further one word line is selected in the selected block. In a refresh operation, one of the cell arrays is selected, and four blocks in the selected cell array are simultaneously refreshed. Namely, respective one word line is selected from each of the four blocks, and the selected word lines are refreshed, thereby to reduce a power comsumption as compared to when the plural cell arrays are refreshed.

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