Single-ended sense amplifier with adjustable noise margin and power down control

摘要

The present invention discloses a single-ended sense amplifier including an output circuit having an output terminal for indicating a state of a bitline node. In addition, a noise margin circuit; and an n-channel transistor are provided for coupling or decoupling an input terminal of the output circuit with the bitline node. The variable logic-threshold inverter has a larger logic threshold voltage in response to a lower voltage level of a precharge signal and a smaller logic-threshold voltage in response to a higher voltage level of the precharge signal. The difference between the two logic-threshold voltages represents the possible noise margin. Furthermore, a power down control circuit is provided to be coupled to the bitline node for reducing the static power consumption of the single-ended sense amplifier. The single-ended sense amplifier according to the present invention provides a higher and adjustable noise margin and occupies a smaller area on a semiconductor wafer.