Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and test method with memory-assisted roll call

• US 6,404,683 B1
• Filed: 05/04/2001
• Issued: 06/11/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LAPIS Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (ROHM Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: OKI Electric Industry Company Limited
• Inventors: Yumoto, Naotaka
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN
• Application Number:
  US09/848,765
• Publication Number:
  US 20020031017A1
• Time in Patent Office: 403 Days
• Field of Search: 365/200, 365/201, 365/185.09, 365/185.22, 365/189.07
• US Class Current: 365/200
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/24 Accessing extra cells, e.g. dummy cells or redundant cells
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/835 with roll call arrangements for redundant substitutions

Abstract

A semiconductor memory device has a main cell array, a redundant cell array, a spare cell array, and a selection circuit. The selection circuit can be programmed with the addresses of defective memory cells in the main cell array, and can then select memory cells in the redundant cell array in place of the defective memory cells. The addresses programmed into the selection circuit are also stored in the spare cell array. After programming of the selection circuit, the programmed addresses are read from the selection circuit and compared with the addresses stored in the spare cell array to verify that the programming has been accomplished successfully.

Claims

1. A semiconductor memory device, comprising:

a main cell array having main memory cells for storing data;

a redundant cell array having redundant memory cells for storing data in place of defective main memory cells in the main cell array;

a first selection circuit coupled to the main cell array, for selecting the main memory cells in response to external address input;

a second selection circuit coupled to the redundant cell array and programmable with at least one redundancy repair address, for selecting the redundant memory cells when the external address input matches the redundancy repair address;

a readout circuit coupled to the second selection circuit, for reading the redundancy repair address from the second selection circuit;

a spare cell array having spare memory cells for storing the redundancy repair address;

a third selection circuit coupled to the spare cell array, for selecting the spare memory cells; and

a data output circuit coupled to the main cell array, the redundant cell array, and the spare cell array, for output of the data stored in the selected main memory cells and the selected redundant memory cells, and for output of test data responsive to the redundancy repair address read by the readout circuit and the redundancy repair address stored in the spare cell array.

2. The semiconductor memory device of claim 1, wherein the data output circuit outputs the redundancy repair address read by the readout circuit and the redundancy repair address stored in the spare cell array separately as said test data.

3. The semiconductor memory device of claim 1, further comprising a comparison circuit coupled to the data output circuit, for comparing the redundancy repair address read by the readout circuit with the redundancy repair address stored in the spare cell array and generating comparison result data for output as said test data.

4. The semiconductor memory device of claim 3, wherein the data output circuit also outputs the redundancy repair address stored in the spare cell array.

5. A method of testing the semiconductor memory device of claim 3, comprising the steps of:

storing the redundancy repair address in the spare cell array;

programming the redundancy repair address into the second selection circuit;

activating the readout circuit and the comparison circuit to compare the redundancy repair address stored in the spare cell array with the redundancy repair address read from the second selection circuit and to generate the test data; and

deciding, from the test data, whether a redundancy repair error has occurred.

6. A method of testing the semiconductor memory device of claim 1, comprising the steps of:

storing the redundancy repair address in the spare cell array;

programming the redundancy repair address into the second selection circuit;

using the readout circuit to read the redundancy repair address from the second selection circuit;

reading the redundancy repair address from the spare cell array; and

comparing the redundancy repair address read from the spare cell array with the redundancy repair address read from the second selection circuit.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said step of comparing is carried out within the semiconductor memory device.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said step of storing is carried out before said step of programming.