US 2017/0287554 A1 · SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE

Abstract

There is provided, for example, a write assist circuit for controlling the voltage level of a memory cell power supply line coupled to an SRAM memory cell to be written in the write operation. The write assist circuit reduces the voltage level of the memory cell power supply line to a predetermined voltage level, in response to a write assist enable signal that is enabled in the write operation. At the same time, the write assist circuit controls the reduction speed of the voltage level of the memory cell power supply line, according to the pulse width of a write assist pulse signal. The pulse width of the write assist pulse signal is defined in such a way that the greater the number of rows (or the longer the length of the memory cell power supply line), the greater the pulse width.

Claims9

Dependent claims

1-20. (canceled)

A semiconductor device comprising:

a memory module including:
a plurality of word lines extending in parallel in a first direction;
a plurality of bit line pairs extending in parallel in a second direction crossing the first direction;
a plurality of SRAM memory cells coupled to the plurality of word lines and the plurality of bit lines such that one memory cell is coupled to one word line and one bit line pair;
a plurality of memory cell power supply lines extending in parallel in the second direction to supply power to the plurality of SRAM memory cells;
a write assist circuit for discharging an electric charge of a memory cell power supply line corresponding to an SRAM memory cell to be written in a write operation for a first period;
and
a timing generation circuit for generating a pulse signal with a pulse width of the first period, wherein the timing generation circuit includes:
a register for storing a digital code;
and
a delay circuit for determining the pulse width of the pulse signal, and
wherein a delay of the delay circuit is determined by the digital code.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Family