Semiconductor device outputting read data in synchronization with clock signal
View Patent ↗A semiconductor device is provided with a clock output control circuit which supplies a long-period clock signal having a period longer than an internal clock signal within an active period and supplies the internal clock signal within a read period subsequent to the active period, a clock transfer circuit which transfers the internal clock signal and the long-period clock signal outputted from the clock output control circuit, a data input/output terminal, and an input/output circuit which outputs read data to the data input/output terminal in synchronization with the internal clock signal having been transferred by the clock transfer circuit.
1. A semiconductor device comprising:
a clock output control circuit outputting one of a first clock signal and a second clock signal having a longer clock cycle than that of the first clock signal, the clock output control circuit outputting the second clock signal during an active period and outputting the first clock signal during a read period subsequent to the active period;
a clock transfer circuit transferring the first and second clock signals;
an external data terminal; and
an output circuit outputting read data to the external data terminal in synchronization with the first clock signal transferred via the clock transfer circuit.
2. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the output circuit does not output the read data during the active period.
3. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the clock output control circuit outputs neither the first nor second clock signals during a power-down period.
4. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising an internal voltage generating circuit that generates the internal voltage, wherein
the clock transfer circuit operates on an internal voltage, and
the internal voltage drops from a first potential to a second potential during the active period and drops from the second potential to a third potential during the read period.
5. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a DLL circuit that generates the first clock signal, the DLL circuit supplying the first clock signal to the clock output control circuit,
wherein the clock output control circuit generates the second clock signal by expanding the clock cycle of the first clock signal supplied from the DLL circuit.
6. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the clock output control circuit includes:
a period expansion circuit expanding the clock cycle of the first clock signal supplied from the DLL circuit; and
a supply control circuit generating the second clock signal based on an output signal of the cycle expansion circuit, the supply control circuit starting supplying the second clock signal in response to an active command, and the supply control circuit also starting supplying the first clock signal in response to a read command.
7. A semiconductor device comprising:
a plurality of memory cells arranged in a matrix, including a plurality of rows and columns, one of the rows being selected in response to an issue of an active command, one of the columns being selected in response to an issue of a read command; and
a clock control circuit producing a clock signal at a first frequency prior to the issue of the read command, and at a second frequency in response to the issue of the read command, the first frequency being greater than zero and smaller than the second frequency.
8. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the clock control circuit starts to produce the clock signal at the first frequency in response to the issue of the active command.
9. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the clock control circuit stops producing the clock signal in response to an issue of a precharge command after the read command.
10. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the second frequency is multiple number of the first frequency.
11. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising an output circuit outputting data of one of the memory cells corresponding to an intersection of the one of rows and the one of columns in synchronization with the clock signal of the second frequency.