KR20010011508A - Circuit for sense amplifier in semiconductor memory - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A sense-amplifying circuit within a semiconductor memory is provided to prevent an influence from resistances and capacitances so that an operation speed of the sense-amplifying circuit is improved. CONSTITUTION: The device includes the first selection part(1), the second selection part(2), a sense-amplifying controller(3), a sense-amplifying driver(4), the first switching part(5), the second switching part(6) and a sense amplifier(7). The first selection part(1) generates the first switching control signal(SHL) according to mat selection signals(MSi,MSj). The second selection part(2) generates the second switching control signal(SHR) according to the mat selection signals(MSi,MSj). The sense-amplifying controller(3) outputs enable signals(SAN,SAP1, SAP2) according to the mat selection signal(MSi). The sense-amplifying driver(4) controls an output operation for a source voltage and a ground voltage according to the enable signals(SAN,SAP1, SAP2). The first switching part(5) applies data of the first mat(MATi) to a bit line(BL) and an inversion bit line(BLB) according to the first switching control signal(SHL). The second switching part(6) applies data of the second mat(MATj) to the bit line(BL) and inversion bit line(BLB) according to the first switching control signal(SHL). The sense amplifier(7) senses the applied data.

Description

Sense amplifier circuit of semiconductor memory {CIRCUIT FOR SENSE AMPLIFIER IN SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sense amplifier circuit of a semiconductor memory. Particularly, in the initial operation of a sense amplifier, a semiconductor which is suitable for improving the operating speed of a sense amplifier by reducing the load of the sense amplifier by turning off the sense amplifier for a predetermined time. It relates to a sense amplifier circuit of a memory.

In general, the sense amplifier of a semiconductor memory is composed of a combination of a mat or a bank having a plurality of unit memory cells sharing a word line and a bit line, each of the mat or bank to improve the memory density Without two sense amplifiers, two mats or two banks are paired, and a sense amplifier that selects one of the two mats according to the control signal so that two mats share one sense amplifier. The detailed description will now be given with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sense amplifier circuit diagram of a conventional semiconductor memory, and as shown therein, a first selector 1 which receives a mat select signal MSj and inverts and outputs a first switching control signal SHL; A second selection unit 2 which receives the mat selection signal MSi and inverts the output to output the second switching control signal SHR; A sense amplifier control unit 3 for outputting sense amplifier enable signals SAN, SAP1, and SAP2 according to the mat selection signal MSi; A sense amplifier driver 4 outputting and controlling a power supply voltage and a ground voltage according to the sense amplifier enable signals SAN, SAP1, and SAP2; A first switch unit 5 applying and controlling the data of the first mat MATi to the bit line BL and the inverting bit line BLB according to the first switching control signal SHL; A second switch unit 6 applying and controlling the data of the second mat MATj to the bit line BL and the inverting bit line BLB according to the second switching control signal SHR; The data of the first mat MATi or the second mat MATj applied to the bit line BL and the inverted bit line BLB may be set to values of a power supply voltage and a ground voltage applied by the sense amplifier driver 4. It consists of a sense amplifier 7 for sensing.

Hereinafter, the sense amplifier circuit of the conventional semiconductor memory as described above will be described in more detail with reference to the conventional operation waveform diagram shown in FIG.

For convenience of explanation, the mat selection signal MSj is inputted by transitioning from the low potential to the high potential, and the mat selection signal MSi keeps the low potential, selects the data of the first mat MATi, and amplifies it. The operation of the conventional sense amplifier circuit is described only in this case.

First, the mat selection signal MSi has a section in which the mat selection signal MSi is applied at high potential to output specific data of the first mat MATi, and the second selection unit 2 receives the mat selection signal MSi. The second switching control signal SHR in the low potential state is output for the same time at a time slightly delayed in the high potential section of the first mat MATi, which is an output signal.

Further, the mat selection signal MSj is continuously applied at a low potential regardless of the change of the mat selection signal MSi, and the switching control signal SHL is applied at a high potential.

In this state, when the word line signal WLi applied to the word line of the specific memory cell of the first mat MATi is applied at high potential, the data of the first mat MATi is output. At this time, since the first switching control signal SHL is applied at a high potential, the first switch unit 5 is turned on to transfer the data of the first mat MATi to the bit line BL and the inverting bit line BLB. Is applied.

At this time, by receiving the output signal of the sense amplifier control unit 3 and outputs the sense amplifier enable signals (SAP1, SAP2, SAN), so that the sense amplifier driver 3 drives the sense amplifier (7), the bit The output data of the first mat MATi applied to the line BL and the inverted bit line BLB is sensed and output as data values of high potential and low potential.

As can be seen in FIG. 2, the data of the mat applied to the bit line BL and the inverting bit line BLB is sensed (that is, the difference between the potential applied to the bit line and the inverting bit line is determined by the difference between the power supply voltage and the ground voltage. Value), amplified by the sense amplifier 7 under the influence of the resistance and capacitance (Rb, Cb) in the mat, and the resistance and capacitance (Rsa, Csa) of the sense amplifier itself, the bit line (BL) ) And the data of the data applied to the inverting bit line BLB become the values of the power supply voltage and the ground voltage, which delays the operation speed of the sense amplifier.

As described above, the sense amplifier circuit of the conventional semiconductor memory has a switch unit for controlling the output of the mat data to the bit line before the data of the specific mat is input to the sense amplifier, so that the resistance and capacitance of the entire mat are improved. There is a problem in that the operation speed of the sense amplifier is delayed because it affects the operation of the sense amplifier.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a sense amplifier circuit of a semiconductor memory which can block the influence of the resistance and capacitance of the mat before operation of the sense amplifier.

1 is a sense amplifier circuit diagram of a conventional semiconductor memory.

2 is an operational waveform diagram of FIG. 1;

3 is a sense amplifier circuit diagram of a semiconductor memory of the present invention.

4 is an operational waveform diagram of FIG. 3;

*** Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings ***

1: first selector 2: second selector

3: Sense amplifier control unit 4: Sense amplifier drive unit

5: 1st switch part 6: 2nd switch part

7: Sense amplifier

The above object includes: a first selector which receives first and second mat selection signals, selects and combines the first mat selection signals, and outputs a first switching control signal having a low potential section before the selection; A second selector which receives the first and second mat selection signals, selects a second mat by combining them, and outputs a second switching control signal having a low potential section of a predetermined time before the selection; A sense amplifier controller configured to output a sense amplifier enable signal according to the first mat selection signal; A sense amplifier driver configured to output and control a power supply voltage and a ground voltage according to the sense amplifier enable signal; A first switch unit configured to apply and control data of a first mat to bit lines and inverted bit lines according to the first switching control signal; A second switch unit configured to apply and control data of a second mat to the bit line and the inverting bit line according to the second switching control signal; This invention is achieved by configuring a sense amplifier for sensing the data of the first mat or the second mat applied to the bit line and the inverted bit line by a value of a power supply voltage and a ground voltage applied by the sense amplifier driver. When described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings as follows.

FIG. 3 is a sense amplifier circuit diagram of a semiconductor memory according to the present invention. As shown therein, a mat is selected by combining the mat selection signals MSi and MSj, and a specific mat is selected, and the first switching has a low potential section before the selection. A first selector 1 for outputting a control signal SHL; A second selection unit 2 which receives the mat selection signals MSi and MSj, selects a specific mat by combining them, and outputs a second switching control signal SHR having a low potential section of a predetermined time before the selection; Wow; A sense amplifier control unit 3 for outputting sense amplifier enable signals SAN, SAP1, and SAP2 according to the mat selection signal MSi; A sense amplifier driver 4 outputting and controlling a power supply voltage and a ground voltage according to the sense amplifier enable signals SAN, SAP1, and SAP2; A first switch unit 5 applying and controlling the data of the first mat MATi to the bit line BL and the inverting bit line BLB according to the first switching control signal SHL; A second switch unit 6 applying and controlling the data of the second mat MATj to the bit line BL and the inverting bit line BLB according to the second switching control signal SHR; The data of the first mat MATi or the second mat MATj applied to the bit line BL and the inverted bit line BLB may be set to values of a power supply voltage and a ground voltage applied by the sense amplifier driver 4. It consists of a sense amplifier 7 for sensing.

The first selector 1 receives the mat select signal MSi directly to one input terminal, and delays and inverts the mat select signal MSi through the inverter INV1 and the delay unit DELAY1 to the other end. A NAND gate NAND1 for receiving and outputting the NAND combination; Inverted input signal of the NAND gate (NAND1) at one end through the inverter (INV2), and inputs the mat selection signal (MSj) to the other input terminal is composed of a NOR gate (NOR1) for outputting by combining the noah, The second selector 2 has the same configuration as the first selector 1 including the inverters INV3 and INV4, the delay unit DELAY2, the NAND gate NAND2, and the noor gate NOR2. It is configured to convert only the positions of the mat selection signal MSi and the mat selection signal MSj that are input.

Hereinafter, the operation of the sense amplifier circuit of the semiconductor memory of the present invention configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to the operation waveform diagram shown in FIG.

For convenience of description, only the operation of selecting and sensing data of the first mat MATi will be described as in the related art.

First, when both of the mat selection signals MSi and MSj are applied at low potential, the output signal of the NAND gate NAND1 of the first selection unit 1 is output at high potential, and the output of the NOA gate NOR1 is output. The first switching control signal SHL is output at high potential, and the second switching control signal SHR, which is an output signal of the second selector 2, is also output at high potential.

In this state, when the mat selection signal MSi is applied to the high potential to select the data of the first mat MATi, the mat selection signal MSi transitioned to the high potential is directly and inversely delayed. The output signal of the NAND gate NAND1 is input to the one input terminal after the mat selection signal MSi is delayed for a predetermined time, so that a high potential output signal is output for a predetermined time, and the delay time is terminated. ) And the output signal of the low potential again when the signal applied through the inverter INV1 becomes the high potential.

Next, the output signal of the NAND gate NAND1 having a high potential during the delay period of the delay unit DELAY1 and having a low potential output in the input section of the mat select signal MSi thereafter is supplied to the inverter INV2. The first switching control signal SHL, which is an output signal of the NOA gate NOR1 that receives the mat selection signal MSj fixed at a low potential and is combined and outputted to the other input terminal, is the delay unit DELAY1. It has a low potential section equal to the delay time of) and after that delay it returns to high potential. In this case, since the mat selection signal MSj is always input at a low potential, the second selector 2 changes the value of the second switching control signal SHR, which is an output signal, by the delay unit DELAY2. There is no case, and the second switching control signal SHR is output in a form having a low potential section in the high potential section of the mat selection signal MSi.

In addition, before the first switching control signal SHL has a low potential value, the word line signal WLi is applied at a high potential to output specific data of the mat Mati, but the first switching control signal In the low potential section of SHL, the first switch unit 5 is turned off to block the mat, the bit line BL, and the inverting bit line BLB, and outputs the output signal of the sense amplifier controller 3. The power supply voltage and the ground voltage are applied to the sense amplifier 7 by the sense amplifier driver 4 operating by being applied, and the sense amplifier 7 is before the low potential first switching control signal SHL is applied. The data applied to the bit line BL and the inverted bit line BLB is sensed.

At this time, the influence of the resistance (Rb) and the capacitance (Cb) on the entire mat (MATi) does not affect the sensing operation because the first switch unit 5 is cut off, and thus the sensing operation is the speed Is improved.

Next, when the first switching control signal SHL recovers to the high potential, the data of the mat MATi is output again through the bit line BL and the inverting bit line BLB, in which case the mat ( Influence of the resistance Rb and the capacitance Cb of the MATi affects the operation of the sense amplifier 7, and the sensing operation is performed at the same speed as in the prior art, so that the bit line BL and the inverting bit line BLB are performed. Data having a potential of ground voltage or power supply voltage is applied to each.

As described above, the present invention allows a low potential section to occur in a part of a signal for controlling a switch for selectively outputting data of a plurality of mats, thereby eliminating the influence of the resistance and capacitance of the entire mat in the low potential section. This has the effect of improving the operating speed of the amplifier.

Claims (3)

A first selector which receives the first and second mat selection signals and combines them to select and control the first mat and outputs a first switching control signal having a low potential section before the selection; A second selector which receives the first and second mat selection signals, selects a second mat by combining them, and outputs a second switching control signal having a low potential section of a predetermined time before the selection; A sense amplifier controller configured to output a sense amplifier enable signal according to the first mat selection signal; A sense amplifier driver configured to output and control a power supply voltage and a ground voltage according to the sense amplifier enable signal; A first switch unit configured to apply and control data of a first mat to bit lines and inverted bit lines according to the first switching control signal; A second switch unit configured to apply and control data of a second mat to the bit line and the inverting bit line according to the second switching control signal; And a sense amplifier configured to sense data of a first mat or a second mat applied to the bit line and the inverted bit line by a value of a power supply voltage and a ground voltage applied by the sense amplifier driver. Sense amplifier circuit. The method of claim 1, wherein the first selector receives a first mat selection signal directly to one input terminal, and delays and inverts the first mat selection signal through a first inverter and a delay unit to the other end, and outputs the result. A NAND gate; And a nona gate configured to receive an inverted input signal of the NAND gate through a second inverter at one end thereof, and a nona gate which receives the second mat selection signal at the other input terminal and outputs the result by combining NOR gate. Amplifier circuit. The method of claim 1, wherein the second selector receives a second mat selection signal directly to one input terminal, and receives the second mat selection signal to the other end by inverting a delay delay input through a first inverter and a delay unit, and outputs the result. A NAND gate; And a nona gate configured to receive an output signal of the NAND gate at one end through an inverting second inverter, and to receive the first mat selection signal at the other input terminal and output the result by combining NOR gate. Amplifier circuit.