Complementary MISFET voltage generating circuit for a semiconductor memory

Claim 1

A semiconductor memory comprising: a memory cell including a MISFET and a capacitor for data storage, said capacitor having one of two electrodes thereof connected to one channel side of said MISFET; a voltage generating circuit for providing a voltage, of about one-half the magnitude of a power source voltage thereof, to be supplied to the other electrode of said capacitor; voltage supply means for supplying any voltage to said one electrode; and switch means adapted to allow either the voltage provided from said voltage generating circuit or voltage supplied from said voltage supply means to said other electrode, wherein said voltage generating circuit comprises a voltage dividing circuit including first resistor means, a first MISFET of a first channel conductivity type configured to operates as a diode, a second MISFET of a second channel conductivity type configured to operates as a diode, and second resistor means, said first resistor means, said first MISFET, said second MISFET and said second resistor means are connected in series in that order; a first output MISFET of said first channel conductivity type having a gate connected to the common connection of said first MISFET and said first resistor means; and a second output MISFET of said second channel conductivity type having a gate connected to the common connection of said second MISFET and said second resistor means, wherein said first and second MISFETs have threshold voltages of absolute value smaller than that of said first and second output MISFETs, respectively, and wherein an output voltage of about half of said power source voltage is obtained at a common source connection of said first and second output MISFETs.