US 2012/0257440 A1 · MEMORY ELEMENT AND SIGNAL PROCESSING CIRCUIT

Abstract

An object is to provide a memory device for which a complex manufacturing process is not necessary and whose power consumption can be suppressed, and a signal processing circuit including the memory device. In a memory element including a phase-inversion element such as an inverter or a clocked inverter, a capacitor which holds data and a switching element which controls storing and releasing of electric charge in the capacitor are provided. For the above switching element, a transistor including amorphous silicon, polysilicon, microcrystalline silicon, or a compound semiconductor such as an oxide semiconductor in a channel formation region is used. The channel length of the transistor is ten times or more as large as the minimum feature size or greater than or equal to 1 μm. The above memory element is used for a memory device such as a register or a cache memory in the signal processing circuit.

Claims30

Dependent claims

A memory element comprising:

a first phase-inversion element;
a second phase-inversion element;
a capacitor comprising a first electrode and a second electrode;
and
a first transistor,
wherein an output terminal of the first phase-inversion element is electrically connected to an input terminal of the second phase-inversion element,
wherein an output terminal of the second phase-inversion element is electrically connected to an input terminal of the first phase-inversion element,
wherein one of a source and a drain region of the first transistor is electrically connected to the input terminal of the first phase-inversion element,
wherein the other of the source and the drain region of the first transistor is electrically connected to the first electrode of the capacitor,
wherein the first transistor includes a first semiconductor region with at least one hollow portion in a first channel formation region, and
wherein the first transistor controls writing of data to the capacitor.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Memory element and signal processing circuit

Life of this patent

Memory element and signal processing circuit

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims30