Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device

A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device, comprising:

• a memory cell disposed between a first line and a second line and including a variable resistance element;
• and
• a control circuit configured to cause data of 2 bits or more to be stored in the memory cell by setting the memory cell to be included in one of resistance value distributions, and to apply a voltage to the memory cell in a write operation,
• the control circuit being configured to set a first resistance value distribution, a second resistance value distribution, and a third resistance value distribution, the second resistance value distribution having a resistance value larger than that of the first resistance value distribution, and the third resistance value distribution having a resistance value larger than that of the second resistance value distribution, and the control circuit being configured to perform a read operation that determines whether a resistance value of the memory cell is larger than a certain read resistance value between the resistance value distributions or not, and
• when a first read resistance value is set between the first resistance value distribution and the second resistance value distribution, a second read resistance value is set between the second resistance value distribution and the third resistance value distribution, and a third read resistance value is set to be larger than a third upper limit value as an upper value of the third resistance value distribution,
• the control circuit is configured to set such that a width between the first read resistance value and the second read resistance value is made smaller than a width between the second read resistance value and the third read resistance value.