Memory chip architecture having non-rectangular memory banks and method for arranging memory banks
View Patent ↗A semiconductor memory device having semiconductor memory chips, each semiconductor memory chip includes a plurality of memory banks capable of independently to be accessed, each memory bank having a plurality of memory blocks, wherein at least two memory blocks, which are neighbored each other in the same memory bank, have the different number of unit memory blocks, so that each bank has a non-rectangular shape.
1. A semiconductor memory device having semiconductor memory chips, each semiconductor memory chip comprising:
a plurality of memory banks capable of independently being accessed, each memory bank having a plurality of memory blocks, wherein at least two of the memory blocks, which are adjacent to each other in the same memory bank, have different numbers of unit memory blocks, so that each memory bank has a non-rectangular shape.
2. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of pads and control blocks arranged in a vacant space between neighboring memory banks.
3. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 1 , wherein each of the memory blocks includes a pair of X-decoder and Y-decoder.
4. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 1 , wherein each memory bank includes an odd number of the memory blocks.
5. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 1 , wherein a total memory region of the semiconductor memory chip is divided into four memory banks, wherein the four memory banks are arranged in the first, second, third and fourth quadrants of the semiconductor memory chip, respectively.
6. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 5 , wherein each memory bank includes:
a first memory block having a first number of the unit memory blocks;
a second memory block having a second number of the unit memory blocks, which is smaller than that of the first memory blocks; and
a third memory block having the second number of the unit memory blocks.
7. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 6 , wherein the first memory blocks of memory banks arranged in the second and third quadrants are arranged at a left-most region of the semiconductor memory chip and the first memory block of banks arranged in the first and fourth quadrants is arranged at a right-most region of the semiconductor memory chip.
8. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 7 , further comprising a plurality of pads and control blocks arranged between the neighboring second memory blocks, which belong to different memory banks, wherein the pads are arranged between the neighboring first memory blocks.
9. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 6 , wherein each first memory block of each memory bank is arranged by being neighbored in a central region of the semiconductor memory chip.
10. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 9 , further comprising a plurality of pads and control blocks arranged between the neighboring second memory blocks, which belong to different memory banks, wherein the pads are arranged between the neighboring first memory blocks.
11. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 6 , wherein each first memory block of each memory bank is arranged in a central region of each bank, respectively.
12. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 11 , further comprising a plurality of pads and control blocks arranged between the neighboring second memory blocks, which belong to different memory banks, wherein the pads are arranged between the neighboring first memory blocks.
13. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 6 , wherein each of the first, second and third memory blocks has a pair of X-decoder and Y-decoder, respectively, and a final driving terminal of the X-decoder in the first memory block is separated into two driving terminals.
14. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 6 , wherein the first memory block includes six 8-Mbit unit memory blocks, and each of the second and the third memory blocks includes five 8-Mbit unit memory blocks.
15. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 5 , wherein each memory bank includes:
a first memory block having a first number of the unit memory blocks;
a second memory block having a second number of the unit memory blocks, which is smaller than that of the first memory block; and
a third memory block having the first number of the unit memory blocks.
16. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 15 , wherein the second memory blocks of memory banks arranged in the second and third quadrants are arranged at a left-most region of the semiconductor memory chip and the second memory blocks of banks arranged in the first and fourth quadrants are arranged at a right-most region of the semiconductor memory chip.
17. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 16 , further comprising a plurality of pads and control blocks arranged between the neighboring second memory blocks, which belong to different memory banks, wherein the pads are further arranged between the neighboring first memory blocks.
18. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 15 , wherein each second memory block of each memory bank is arranged by being neighbored in a central region of the semiconductor memory chip.
19. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 18 , further comprising a plurality of pads and control blocks arranged between the neighboring second memory blocks, which belong to different memory banks, wherein the pads are further arranged between the neighboring first memory blocks.
20. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 15 , wherein each second memory block of each memory bank is arranged in a central region of each bank, respectively.
21. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 20 , further comprising a plurality of pads and control blocks arranged between the neighboring second memory blocks, which belong to different memory banks, wherein the pads are further arranged between the neighboring first memory blocks.
22. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 15 , wherein each of the first, second and third memory blocks has a pair of X-decoder and Y-decoder, respectively, and a final driving terminal of the X-decoder in the first and the third memory blocks is separated into two driving terminals.
23. The semiconductor memory device as recited in claim 15 , wherein each of the first and the third memory blocks includes six 8-Mbit unit memory blocks and the second memory blocks includes five 8-Mbit unit memory blocks.
24. A semiconductor memory device having a semiconductor memory chip divided into 18 regions having an equal area in a 3 rows×6 columns array, the semiconductor memory chip comprising:
a first memory bank including memory blocks arranged at one region selected from a first group including a 2 nd row×1 st column region, a 2 nd row×2 nd column region and a 2 nd row×3 rd column region and at a 1 st row×1 st column region, a 1 st row×2 nd column region and a 1 st row×3 rd column region;
a second memory bank including memory blocks arranged at one region selected from the first group except for the region included in the first memory bank and at a 3 rd row×1 st column region, a 3 rd row×2 nd column region and a 3 rd row×3 rd column region;
a third memory bank including memory blocks arranged at one region selected from a second group including a 2 nd row×4 th column region, a 2 nd row×5 th column region and a 2 nd row×6 th column region and at a 1 st row×4 th column region, a 1 st a row×5 th column region and a 1 st row×6 th column region;
a fourth memory bank including memory blocks arranged at one region selected from the second group except for the region included in the third memory bank and at a 3 rd row×4 th column region, a 3 rd row×5 th column region and a 3 rd row×6 th column region; and
pads and control blocks arranged at one region selected from the first group except for the regions included in the first and second memory bank and the second group except for the regions included in the third and fourth memory bank,
wherein said each memory bank has a non-rectangular shape.
25. The semiconductor device as recited in claim 24 , wherein an X-decoder between the neighboring memory blocks in the same memory bank is shared each other.
26. The semiconductor device as recited in claim 24 , wherein the pads are arranged between the first and second banks and the third and fourth banks.
27. A method for arranging memory blocks to a semiconductor memory chip in a semiconductor device, comprising of:
configuring a plurality of memory blocks with a plurality of neighboring unit memory blocks; and
configuring a plurality of memory banks with the neighboring memory blocks, wherein at least two of the memory blocks have different numbers of unit memory blocks in the same bank so that each memory bank has a non-rectangular shape.
28. The method as recited in claim 27 , wherein pads and control blocks are arranged between the memory blocks relatively having a smaller number of unit memory blocks.