Appeal No. 1998-1815 Page 2
Application No. 08/684,328
along a bit line pair. Each column is connected to a sense
amplifier. The sense amplifier senses the effect a memory
cell has on the bit line pair and amplifies a signal for
reading data from the memory cell. In addition, the sense
amplifier drives, i.e., controls, the bit line pair for
writing data into the memory cell.
When conventional sense amplifiers are employed in
large memories, the amplifiers work inefficiently and slowly,
prolong access time, suffer patten sensitivities, and are
unstable. The invention aims to overcome these problems. In
particular, the inventive method includes coupling a local
read amplifier in communication with a sense amplifier latch.
Claim 45, which is representative for our purposes,
follows:
45. A method of reading data from a first bit
line in an integrated circuit memory including the
steps of:
operating a sense amplifier latch to develop a
first voltage on a first internal latch node
communicating with said bit line, said first voltage
corresponding to the data on said bit line;
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