Memory with adiabatically switched bit lines

摘要

A semiconductor memory is described incorporating an energy conserving cyclic power source for charging and discharging the bit line with a minimum voltage across the switches. The invention overcomes the problem of power dissipation in a semiconductor memory due to charging and discharging capacitances to a voltage supply or to ground. The cyclic power supply produces a slowly varying waveform to drive the bit lines or other lines in a memory array such as a dynamic RAM in a manner so that the energy stored on those lines or in the cyclic power source is recovered at the end of the cycle.