Semiconductor device and memory card having the same

• US 7,370,810 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2006
• Issued: 05/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kioxia Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Nara, Nobuyoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): ST CYR, DANIEL
• Application Number:
  US11/513,025
• Publication Number:
  US 20060289660A1
• Time in Patent Office: 621 Days
• Field of Search: 235/492, 235/380, 235/451, 711/115, 711/101, 710/301, 365/229, 365/233, 365/233.5, 365/208, 365/207, 714/763, 385/229, 385/233.5
• US Class Current: 235/492
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07 with integrated circuit chips

Abstract

A semiconductor device includes a first circuit which operates in accordance with an internal clock, a second circuit which generates information of which an external apparatus is to be notified, an interface section which notifies the external apparatus of the information generated by the second circuit without using the first circuit upon receiving a predetermined command from the external apparatus, and a plurality of terminals each of which is connectable to one of power terminals and ground terminals provided on a substrate. The information is determined depending on whether each of the plurality of terminals is electrically connected to the power terminal or ground terminal on the substrate.

Claims

1. A semiconductor device to be applied to a memory card, comprising:

a first circuit which operates in accordance with an internal clock;

a second circuit which generates information of which an external apparatus is to be notified;

an interface section which notifies the external apparatus of the information generated by the second circuit without using the first circuit upon receiving a predetermined command from the external apparatus before the memory card enters a standby state; and

a plurality of terminals each of which is connectable to one of power terminals and ground terminals provided on a substrate,

the information being determined depending on whether each of the plurality of terminals is electrically connected to the power terminal or ground terminal on the substrate.

2. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined command is a command input before oscillation of the internal clock is completed.

3. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the information includes information indicating a storage capacity of a predetermined memory.

4. A semiconductor device to be applied to a memory card, comprising:

a first circuit which operates in accordance with an internal clock;

a second circuit which generates information of which an external apparatus is to be notified;

an interface section which notifies the external apparatus of the information generated by the second circuit without using the first circuit upon receiving a predetermined command from the external apparatus before the memory card enters a standby state; and

a plurality of second terminals each of which is connectable to one of a plurality of first terminals provided on a substrate,

the information being determined depending on whether or not each of the plurality of second terminals is electrically connected to one of the first terminals on the substrate.

5. The semiconductor device according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined command is a command input before oscillation of the internal clock is completed.

6. The semiconductor device according to claim 4, wherein the information includes information indicating a storage capacity of a predetermined memory.

7. The semiconductor device according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of first terminals are ground terminals, and

the semiconductor device further comprises:

pull-up resistors each of which is connected between one of the plurality of second terminals and a power supply and which is capable of switchably enabling and disabling a pull-up operation of pulling up a signal level obtained from the one of the plurality of second terminals; and

a control circuit which switchably controls a pull-up resistor to enable or disable the pull-up operation depending on whether the signal level is high or low.

8. The semiconductor device according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of first terminals are power terminals, and

the semiconductor device further comprises:

pull-up resistors each of which is connected between one of the plurality of second terminals and a ground and which is capable of switchably enabling and disabling a pull-down operation of pulling down a signal level obtained from the one of the plurality of second terminals; and

a control circuit which switchably controls a pull-down resistor to enable or disable the pull-down operation depending on whether the signal level is low or high.

9. A memory card comprising:

a substrate having a power terminal and a ground terminal;

a nonvolatile semiconductor memory provided on the substrate; and

a controller provided on the substrate and having a plurality of terminals, the controller being capable of interfacing with an external apparatus and controlling the nonvolatile semiconductor memory,

the controller including an interface section which notifies the external apparatus of information before the memory card enters a standby state, the information being determined depending on whether each of the plurality of terminals provided on the controller is electrically connected to the power terminal or ground terminal on the substrate.

10. The memory card according to claim 9, wherein the information includes information indicating a storage capacity of the nonvolatile semiconductor memory.

11. The memory card according to claim 9, wherein the nonvolatile semiconductor memory is a NAND flash memory.

12. A memory card comprising:

a substrate having a plurality of terminals;

a nonvolatile semiconductor memory provided on the substrate; and

a controller provided on the substrate and having a plurality of terminals, the controller being capable of interfacing with an external apparatus and controlling the nonvolatile semiconductor memory,

the controller including an interface section which notifies the external apparatus of information before the memory card enters a standby state, the information being determined depending on whether or not each of the plurality of terminals provided on the controller is electrically connected to one of the plurality of terminals on the substrate.

13. The memory card according to claim 12, wherein the information includes information indicating a storage capacity of the nonvolatile semiconductor memory.

14. The memory card according to claim 12, wherein the nonvolatile semiconductor memory is a NAND flash memory.