Semiconductor device and control method for semiconductor device

摘要

A semiconductor device includes a first memory cell array that includes memory cells for storing data and that is managed on a sector-by-sector basis; a second memory cell array that includes memory cells for storing the sector protection information on the sector-by-sector basis; and a control circuit for reading the sector protection information from the second memory cell any each time a sector for performing a program or erase operation is selected. This eliminates a need of latching the sector protection information of all the sectors during reading upon power-up. Accordingly, there is no need of having latch circuits for all the sectors, with the result that the number of necessary circuits can be significantly reduced and the chip area can be reduced.