Patent US5242459A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
← Back to Patent Explorer
US4860259A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Dram with reduced-test-time mode

Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp
•
Filing: 1988-12-01
•
Granted: 1989-08-22
•
Expires: 2008-12-01
📄 Original PDF 🌐 Google Patents 🔄 Sync Now

Abstract

Abstract In a semiconductor memory device comprising a plurality of memory cells, a test request detection circuit responds to a voltage, on an input terminal, higher than a range of voltages supplied under ordinary operation condition for producing a test signal. Responsive to the test signal, data which has been supplied to the semiconductor memory device are simultaneously written into a plurality of memory cells, and data are simultaneously read from a plurality of memory cells, and judgement is made as to whether or not the data from the memory cells coincide with the data originally supplied to the semiconductor memory device.

Inventors

  • 👤 Youichi Tobita

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-23 20:52
CPC Classifications
G; G11; G11C; G11C11/00; G11C11/21; G11C11/34; G11C11/40; G11C29/00; G11C29/04; G11C29/08; G11C29/12; G11C29/18; G11C29/30; G11C29/34

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim 124 words
A semiconductor memory device, comprising: a plurality of address lines, a plurality of memory cells coupled with said address lines, a test request detection circuit means to produce a test signal if a voltage has been applied on a most significant one of said address lines which is higher than a range of voltages supplied under ordinary operation conditions, means responsive to the test signal for causing writing of data, which has been supplied to the semiconductor memory device, into a plurality of memory cells simultaneously, and, thereafter, simultaneously reading data from said plurality of memory cells, and means for judging whether or not the data read from said plurality of memory cells coincides with the data originally supplied to the semiconductor memory device.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 124 words
A semiconductor memory device, comprising: a plurality of address lines, a plurality of memory cells coupled with said address lines, a test request detection circuit means to produce a test signal if a voltage has been applied on a most significant one of said address lines which is higher than a range of voltages supplied under ordinary operation conditions, means responsive to the test signal for causing writing of data, which has been supplied to the semiconductor memory device, into a plurality of memory cells simultaneously, and, thereafter, simultaneously reading data from said plurality of memory cells, and means for judging whether or not the data read from said plurality of memory cells coincides with the data originally supplied to the semiconductor memory device.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 37 words
A device according to claim 1, wherein said judging means comprises a plurality of judging circuits receiving the data having been supplied to the semiconductor memory device and the dtaa read out of the respective memory cells.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 45 words
A device according to claim 2, wherein each of the judging circuits comprises an Exclusive-OR circuit whose output is at "1" if the data read out of the corresponding memory cell does not coincide with the data having been supplied to the semiconductor memory device.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 39 words
A device according to claim 3, wherein said judging means further comprises an OR circuit receiving the output of the Exclusive-OR circuit to produce an error detection signal if any of the Exclusive-OR circuit produces an output of "1".
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 37 words
A device according to claim 2, wherein said judging means outputs results indicating whether data read out from ones of the memory cells coincides with data originally supplied to the semiconductor memory device onto an external terminal.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 17 words
A device according to claim 1, wherein each of the memory cells comprises a field effect transistor.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 15 words
The memory of claim 1, wherein said memory is a dynamic random access memory (DRAM).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 35 words
The memory of claim 1, wherein said test request detection circuit contains plural FETs connected together to provide an effective threshold voltage which is outside of the range of voltages supplied under ordinary operation conditions.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 166 words
A semiconductor memory device, comprising: at least one array of memory cells coupled with said address lines; peripheral logic connected to select ones of said memory cells for reading or writing in accordance with externally received cell address signals, wherein ones of said cell address signals are sequentially multiplexed onto a set of address lines which are less than the number needed to uniquely identify one of said cells; a test request detection circuit means to produce a test signal if a voltage has been applied on a most significant one of said address lines which is higher than a range of voltages supplied under ordinary operation conditions; a parallel addressing circuit, which causes said peripheral logic to write externally supplied data into a plurality of said memory cells simultaneously, when said test detection circuit indicates that a high voltage has been received; and at least one judging circuit, which ascertains whether a memory cell has correctly repeated the data value which was stored in it.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 166 words
A semiconductor memory device, comprising: at least one array of memory cells coupled with said address lines; peripheral logic connected to select ones of said memory cells for reading or writing in accordance with externally received cell address signals, wherein ones of said cell address signals are sequentially multiplexed onto a set of address lines which are less than the number needed to uniquely identify one of said cells; a test request detection circuit means to produce a test signal if a voltage has been applied on a most significant one of said address lines which is higher than a range of voltages supplied under ordinary operation conditions; a parallel addressing circuit, which causes said peripheral logic to write externally supplied data into a plurality of said memory cells simultaneously, when said test detection circuit indicates that a high voltage has been received; and at least one judging circuit, which ascertains whether a memory cell has correctly repeated the data value which was stored in it.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 187 words
A semiconductor memory device, comprising: a plurality of subarrays of memory cells; peripheral logic connected to select ones of said memory cells for reading or writing in accordance with externally received cell address signals, wherein ones of said cell address signals are sequentially multiplexed onto a set of address lines which are less than the number needed to uniquely identify one of said cells; a test request detection circuit means to produce a test signal if a voltage has been applied on a most significant one of said address lines which is higher than a range of voltages supplied under ordinary operation conditions; a parallel addressing circuit, which causes said peripheral logic to write externally supplied data into a plurality of said memory cells, in plural respective ones of said subarrays, simultaneously, at locations determined by data on the ones of said address lines on which said voltage was not applied, when said test detection circuit indicates that a high voltage has been received; and at least one judging circuit, which ascertains whether a memory cell has correctly repeated the data value which was stored in it.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 187 words
A semiconductor memory device, comprising: a plurality of subarrays of memory cells; peripheral logic connected to select ones of said memory cells for reading or writing in accordance with externally received cell address signals, wherein ones of said cell address signals are sequentially multiplexed onto a set of address lines which are less than the number needed to uniquely identify one of said cells; a test request detection circuit means to produce a test signal if a voltage has been applied on a most significant one of said address lines which is higher than a range of voltages supplied under ordinary operation conditions; a parallel addressing circuit, which causes said peripheral logic to write externally supplied data into a plurality of said memory cells, in plural respective ones of said subarrays, simultaneously, at locations determined by data on the ones of said address lines on which said voltage was not applied, when said test detection circuit indicates that a high voltage has been received; and at least one judging circuit, which ascertains whether a memory cell has correctly repeated the data value which was stored in it.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 35 words
The memory of claim 9, wherein said test request detection circuit contains plural FETs connected together to provide an effective threshold voltage which is outside of the range of voltages supplied under ordinary operation conditions.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 35 words
The memory of claim 10, wherein said test request detection circuit contains plural FETs connected together to provide an effective threshold voltage which is outside of the range of voltages supplied under ordinary operation conditions.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 44 words
The memory of claim 9, wherein said parallel addressing circuit causes said peripheral logic to write externally supplied data into a plurality of said memory cells at locations determined by data on ones of said address lines on which said voltage was not applied.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

DE161761C Cited
US4055754A Cited
US4543647A Cited
US4672583A Cited
US4612630A Cited
US4654849A Cited
US4654849B1 Cited
US4686456A Cited
EP0434151A2 Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1992-08-21 1993-02-20 1993-08-22 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 1996-08-21 1997-02-20 1997-08-22 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2000-08-21 2001-02-20 2001-08-22 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

Assigned Categories & Tags

No categories assigned to this patent yet.

Assign Category Tag