Semiconductor memory device

1. A semiconductor memory device comprising:

a memory cell array in which memory cells each comprising variable resistive elements which store three or more multi-level information depending on a change in electric resistance are arranged in row direction and column direction, a plurality of row selection lines extending in the row direction and a plurality of column selection lines extending in the column direction are provided, respective one ends of the variable resistive elements of the memory cells in the same row are connected to the same row selection line and respective the other ends of the variable resistive elements of the memory cells in the same column are connected to the same column selection line;

a column readout voltage supply circuit which supplies a predetermined first voltage when readout is selected, and supplies a second voltage different from the first voltage when the readout is not selected, to each of the column selection lines;

a row readout voltage supply circuit which supplies the second voltage to each of the row selection lines at the time of readout; and

a sense circuit which senses a current flowing in a selected row selection line separately from a current flowing in unselected row selection lines and senses an electric resistance state of a selected memory cell at the time of readout; wherein

each reference level between two adjacent memory levels when the memory levels of multi-level information stored in the memory cell are arranged in order of size of resistance values of the corresponding variable resistive element in a distribution range is defined by a reference current in a middle state between a first current state in which a current flowing in the row selection line selected when a high resistance memory cell in which the electric resistance of the selected memory cell is in a higher resistance state in the two adjacent memory levels is read out, becomes the largest state depending on a distribution pattern of an electric resistance state of the other unselected memory cell in the memory cell array, and a second current state in which a current flowing in the row selection line selected when a low resistance memory cell in which the electric resistance of the selected memory cell is in a lower resistance state in the adjacent two memory levels is read out, becomes the smallest state depending on the distribution pattern of the electric resistance state of the other unselected memory cell in the memory cell array, and

the sense circuit is constituted so as to be able to compare the current flowing in the selected row selection line with the reference current corresponding to the reference level.

2. The semiconductor memory device according to claim 1 , wherein

the sense circuit comprises:

a first current-voltage conversion circuit part which converts the current flowing in the selected row selection line to a readout voltage level;

a first reference current generation circuit which approximately implements the first current state of each reference level;

a second reference current generation circuit which approximately implements the second current state of each reference level;

a second current-voltage conversion circuit part which converts the reference current of the reference level to a reference voltage level; and

a comparison circuit which compares the readout voltage level with the reference voltage level.

3. The semiconductor memory device according to claim 2 , wherein

each of the first reference current generation circuit and the second reference current generation circuit at each reference level comprises a reference memory cell array comprising reference memory cells formed of the same variable resistive elements as the memory cells and having the equivalent constitution to the memory cell array, a reference column readout voltage supply circuit whose constitution is equivalent to that of the column readout voltage supply circuit, and a reference row readout voltage supply circuit whose constitution is equivalent to that of the row readout voltage supply circuit,

a distribution pattern of an electric resistance state of the reference memory cell in the reference memory cell array in the first reference current generation circuit at each reference level is set in a first distribution pattern in which the current flowing in the row selection line at the selected reference memory cell array becomes the first current state of each reference level, and

a distribution pattern of an electric resistance state of the reference memory cell in the reference memory cell array in the second reference current generation circuit at each reference level is set in a second distribution pattern in which the current flowing in the row selection line of the selected reference memory cell array becomes the second current state at each reference level.

4. The semiconductor memory device according to claim 3 , wherein

the numbers of the reference memory cells, the row selection lines and the column selection lines in the reference memory cell array is the same as those of the memory cells, the row selection lines and the column selection lines in the memory cell array.

5. The semiconductor memory device according to claim 2 , further comprising:

the plurality of memory cell arrays, wherein

the sense circuit for at least two memory cell arrays in the plurality of memory cell arrays uses the first reference current generation circuit and the second reference current generation circuit in common.

6. The semiconductor memory device according to claim 1 , wherein

the memory cell comprises a nonvolatile variable resistive element which can be electrically rewritten.

7. The semiconductor memory device according to claim 1 , wherein

the memory cell is arranged at an intersection of the row selection line and the column selection line.

8. The semiconductor memory device according to claim 1 , wherein

when the first voltage is lower than the second voltage, each of the column readout voltage supply circuit and the row readout voltage supply circuit supplies the second voltage through a P channel MOSFET which operates in a saturation region.