Memory apparatus with dynamic memory cells having different capacitor values

Abstract

A memory apparatus with dynamic memory cells that can be used both as a read-only memory and also as a volatile memory is provided. The memory apparatus has a capacitance value allocated to the capacitors present in the memory cells; the value is required for operation as a read-only memory. For read-only memory operation, memory cells are provided whose capacitors have different capacitance values corresponding to the type of information to be stored. A method of operating a memory apparatus is also provided. In the method, the information can be set by first charging all the memory cells and then applying a refresh signal to the memory cells with such a clock rate that the memory cells with the larger capacitance value do not discharge, but the memory cells with the smaller capacitance value discharge. In operation as a volatile memory, a refresh signal is applied to the memory cells in the standard way.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.