Granted Patent B2

US 7,449,965 · App. 11/319,718 · Granted Nov 11, 2008

Abstract

Claims (33)

1. A self refresh period signal generation apparatus, comprising:

a voltage detection unit for detecting a voltage level of a power supply voltage to generate a plurality of period control signals based on the detected voltage level of the power supply voltage and voltage levels of a plurality of reference voltages; and

an oscillation unit for generating a ring oscillation signal having a constant period determined by a resistance of a period control resistor when a self refresh signal is activated, wherein the resistance of the period control resistor is controlled based on logic levels of the plurality of period control signals,

wherein the voltage detection unit includes a plurality of voltage comparing units each of which compares the power supply voltage with a corresponding one of the plurality of reference voltages to thereby generate a corresponding one of the plurality of period control signals based on a result of comparing the power supply voltage with the corresponding reference voltage,

wherein each of the voltage comparing units includes:

a first unit for comparing the power supply voltage with a corresponding reference voltage in order to output the result of comparing the power supply voltage with the corresponding reference voltage;

a second unit for selectively transferring an output of the first unit in response to a mode control signal; and

a third unit for latching an output of the second unit to output a corresponding period control signal.

2. The self refresh period signal generation apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the voltage comparing unit further includes:

an initializing unit for initializing the first period control signal according to a power up signal.

3. The self refresh period signal generation apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first unit includes:

a voltage divider for dividing the power supply voltage to thereby generate a divided voltage; and

a comparing unit for comparing the divided voltage with the reference voltage by using a differential amplifier to thereby generate a comparison signal based on a result of comparing the divided voltage with the first reference voltage.

4. The self refresh period signal generation apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the oscillation unit includes:

a period control unit for adjusting the resistance of the period control resistor according to the logic levels of the period control signals;

a ring oscillator having inverters connected in series for generating the ring oscillation signal when the self refresh signal is activated;

a ring oscillator enabling unit which is enabled when the self refresh signal is activated to thereby enable the ring oscillator;

a ring oscillator pull-up driver for supplying the power supply voltage which is variable according to the resistance of the period control resistor to the ring oscillator;

a ring oscillator pull-down driver for supplying a ground voltage to the ring oscillator;

a ring oscillator initializing unit for initializing an output of the ring oscillator according to the self refresh signal; and

a buffering unit for buffering an output of the ring oscillator in order to output the buffered signal.

5. A method for generating an oscillation signal having a constant period determined by a period control resistance, the method comprising:

comparing a voltage level of a power supply voltage with each voltage level of a plurality of reference voltages to output comparison signals, wherein the voltage levels of the reference voltages are different from each other;

selectively transferring each of the comparison signals in response to a mode control signal;

latching the selectively transferred signals to output a plurality of period control signals;

adjusting the period control resistance according to the logic levels of the plurality of period control signals; and

generating the ring oscillation signal having the constant period determined by the period control resistance when a self refresh signal is activated.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 , further comprising initializing the period control signals in response to a power up signal.

7. The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein the comparing step includes:

voltage-dividing the power supply voltage to generate a divided voltage; and

comparing the divided voltage with the reference voltages by using differential amplifiers to thereby generate the comparison signals based on a result of comparing the divided voltage with the corresponding reference voltages.

8. The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein the comparing step includes a step of determining a logic level of a corresponding period control signal by determining whether the power supply voltage is higher/lower than a corresponding reference voltage.

9. The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein the adjusting step includes a step of adjusting a total resistance of a plurality of period control resistors by matching the plurality of period control signals to at least two of the period control resistors and by short-circuiting a corresponding period control resistor when a corresponding period control signal is activated.

Assignments (8)