Semiconductor memory device and method of performing a memory operation

A method of controlling a semiconductor memory device, comprising:

• transmitting a write command signal to the semiconductor memory device;
• transmitting data to the semiconductor memory device, the data including n pieces of data, wherein a k-th piece of the n pieces of data comprises masking data to be masked;
• and
• transmitting a data masking signal to the semiconductor memory device, the data masking signal enabling data masking, wherein the data masking signal is used to mask the k-th piece of data,
• wherein transmission of the data masking signal begins prior to transmission of the k-th piece of data.

A semiconductor memory device, comprising:

• a memory cell array;
• a command receiving circuit configured to receive a write command signal from a memory controller;
• a data receiving circuit configured to receive data from the memory controller, the data including n pieces of data, wherein a k-th piece of the n pieces of data comprises masking data to be masked;
• a data masking signal receiving circuit configured to receive a data masking signal from the memory controller, the data masking signal enabling data masking, wherein the data masking signal is used to mask the k-th piece of data;
• and
• wherein a latency between receiving the write command signal and receiving the data masking signal is less than a latency between receiving the write command signal and receiving the k-th piece of data, and
• wherein the data masking information receiving circuit comprises a flip-flop circuit configured to adjust the latency for the data masking signal.

A memory controller, comprising:

• a command transmitting circuit configured to transmit a write command signal to a memory device;
• a data transmitting circuit configured to transmit data to the memory device, the data including n pieces of data, wherein a k-th piece of the n pieces of data is masking data to be masked;
• and
• a data masking signal transmitting circuit configured to transmit a data masking signal to the memory device, the data masking signal enabling data masking, wherein the data masking information is used to mask the k-th piece of data;
• and
• wherein the memory controller is configured to begin transmitting the data masking signal prior to beginning transmission of the k-th piece of data.