IP Library Granted Patent US 10,466,739
Granted Patent B1
US 10,466,739 · App. 16/229,333 · Granted Nov 5, 2019

Semiconductor device including data input circuit

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,466,739
App. No.
16/229,333
Granted
Nov 5, 2019
Kind
B1
Abstract

A semiconductor device includes a clock selection block selecting a first or a second input clock as a reference clock based on a phase detection signal; a clock generation circuit outputting first to N th sampling clocks by distributing the reference clock to first to N th clock paths, and outputting a first training signal by delaying a test pulse through one clock path during a training operation; a data input circuit sampling input data based on the first and second input clocks and one sampling clock outputted through the same clock path as the first training signal among the first to N th sampling clocks; and a training circuit delaying the test pulse by a reference delay value to output a second training signal, and comparing a phase of the first training signal with a phase of the second training signal to generate the phase detection signal, during the training operation.

Claims (47)

1. A semiconductor device comprising:

a clock selection block suitable for selecting a first input clock or a second input clock as a reference clock based on a phase detection signal;

a clock generation circuit suitable for outputting first to N th sampling clocks by distributing the reference clock to first to N th clock paths, and outputting a first training signal by delaying a test pulse through one clock path among the first to N th clock paths during a training operation;

a data input circuit suitable for sampling input data based on the first and second input clocks and one sampling clock outputted through the same clock path as the first training signal among the first to N th sampling clocks; and

a training circuit suitable for delaying the test pulse by a reference delay value to output a second training signal, and comparing a phase of the first training signal with a phase of the second training signal to generate the phase detection signal, during the training operation.

2. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the second input clock has a phase opposite to a phase of the first input clock.

3. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the training circuit comprises:

a pulse generation block suitable for generating the test pulse that activates for a set period, based on a training mode signal;

a reference delay block suitable for delaying the test pulse by the reference delay value to output the second training signal; and

a phase detection block suitable for generating the phase detection signal by comparing the phase of the first training signal with that of the second training signal.

4. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the data input circuit comprises:

a parallelization block suitable for parallelizing the input data based on the first input clock and the second input clock to output first and second parallel data; and

an alignment block suitable for aligning the first and second parallel data based on the one sampling clock.

5. The semiconductor device of claim 4 , wherein the reference delay value is set to correspond to a setup/hold time of the alignment block.

6. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the clock generation circuit has a clock tree structure that forms the first to N th clock paths using a plurality of clock buffers coupled in series.

7. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , further comprising an internal circuit suitable for processing the data aligned in the data input circuit based on the first to N th sampling clocks.

8. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the one clock path is the first clock path, and the one sampling clock is the first sampling clock.

9. A semiconductor system comprising:

a semiconductor device; and

a controller suitable for providing first and second input clocks to the semiconductor device, and transmitting and receiving data,

wherein the semiconductor device comprises:

a clock selection block suitable for selecting the first input clock or the second input clock as a reference clock based on a phase detection signal;

a clock generation circuit suitable for outputting first to N th sampling clocks by distributing the reference clock to first to N th clock paths, and outputting a first training signal by delaying a test pulse through one clock path among the first to N th clock paths during a training operation;

a data input circuit suitable for sampling the data transmitted from the controller based on the first and second input clocks and one sampling clock outputted through the same clock path as the first training signal among the first to N th sampling clocks; and

a training circuit suitable for delaying the test pulse by a reference delay value to output a second training operation, and comparing a phase of the first training signal with a phase of the second training signal to generate the phase detection signal, during the training operation.

10. The semiconductor system of claim 9 , wherein the second input clock has a phase opposite to a phase of the first input clock.

11. The semiconductor system of claim 9 , wherein the training circuit comprises:

a pulse generation block suitable for generating the test pulse that activates for a set period, based on a training mode signal;

a reference delay block suitable for delaying the test pulse by the reference delay value to output the second training signal; and

a phase detection block suitable for generating the phase detection signal by comparing the phase of the first training signal with that of the second training signal.

12. The semiconductor system of claim 9 , wherein the data input circuit comprises:

a parallelization block suitable for parallelizing the data based on the first input clock and the second input clock to output first and second parallel data; and

an alignment block suitable for aligning the first and second parallel data based on the one sampling clock.

13. The semiconductor system of claim 12 , wherein the reference delay value is set to correspond to a setup/hold time of the alignment block.

14. The semiconductor system of claim 9 , wherein the clock generation circuit has a clock tree structure that forms the first to N th clock paths using a plurality of clock buffers coupled in series.

15. The semiconductor system of claim 9 , further comprising an internal circuit suitable for processing the data aligned in the data input circuit based on the first to N th sampling clocks.

16. The semiconductor system of claim 9 , wherein the one clock path is the first clock path, and the one sampling clock is the first sampling clock.

17. An operating method of a semiconductor device, the operating method comprising:

generating a first training signal by applying a test pulse to one clock path among a plurality of clock paths forming a clock tree structure, and generating a second training signal by delaying the test pulse by a reference delay value, during a training operation;

comparing a phase of the first training signal with a phase of the second training signal to generate a phase detection signal;

selecting a first input clock or a second input clock as a reference clock based on the phase detection signal, during a normal operation; and

aligning input data based on a first sampling clock generated by applying the reference clock to the one clock path.

18. The operating method of claim 17 , wherein the second input clock has a phase opposite to a phase of the first input clock.

19. The operating method of claim 17 , wherein the aligning of the input data based on the first sampling clock comprises:

parallelizing the input data based on the first input clock and the second input clock and outputting first and second parallel data; and

aligning the first and second parallel data based on the first sampling clock.

20. The operating method of claim 17 , wherein the reference delay value is set to correspond to a setup/hold time when the input data are aligned.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 7, 2024
From: SK HYNIX INC.
To: MIMIRIP LLC
Reel/Frame 067335/0246 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 21, 2018
From: HEO, JI-EUN
To: SK HYNIX INC.
Reel/Frame 047977/0946 →