Patents by Inventor Mitsuo Soneda

Mitsuo Soneda has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8094491
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a memory cell including a thyristor element with a gate having a pnpn structure formed in a semiconductor substrate, and a plurality of access transistors formed on the semiconductor substrate and each connected at a first terminal thereof to a storage node at one terminal of the thyristor element such that a potential at the storage node can be transmitted to bit lines different from each other, the gate of the thyristor element and the gates of the plurality of access transistors of the memory cell being connected to word lines different from one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Makoto Kitagawa, Mitsuo Soneda
  • Patent number: 7851289
    Abstract: A method for forming a Field Effect Transistor (FET) within a strain effect semiconductor layer is disclosed, whereby the source and drain of the FET are formed only in the strain effect silicon layer. The FET may be formed as a gate electrode of a p-channel type field effect transistor, and a gate electrode of a n-channel type field effect transistor on the silicon layer which has the strain effect through a gate insulating film. The sources and drains of p- and n-type diffusion layers are then formed in the silicon layer having the strain effect, on both sides of the gate electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2010
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi Noguchi, Mitsuo Soneda
  • Publication number: 20090086536
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a memory cell including a thyristor element with a gate having a pnpn structure formed in a semiconductor substrate, and a plurality of access transistors formed on the semiconductor substrate and each connected at a first terminal thereof to a storage node at one terminal of the thyristor element such that a potential at the storage node can be transmitted to bit lines different from each other, the gate of the thyristor element and the gates of the plurality of access transistors of the memory cell being connected to word lines different from one another.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2008
    Publication date: April 2, 2009
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Makoto Kitagawa, Mitsuo Soneda
  • Publication number: 20080176367
    Abstract: A method for forming a Field Effect Transistor (FET) within a strain effect semiconductor layer is disclosed, whereby the source and drain of the FET are formed only in the strain effect silicon layer. The FET may be formed as a gate electrode of a p-channel type field effect transistor, and a gate electrode of a n-channel type field effect transistor on the silicon layer which has the strain effect through a gate insulating film. The sources and drains of p- and n-type diffusion layers are then formed in the silicon layer having the strain effect, on both sides of the gate electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 15, 2008
    Publication date: July 24, 2008
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi Noguchi, Mitsuo Soneda
  • Patent number: 7355214
    Abstract: A method for forming a Field Effect Transistor (FET) within a strain effect semiconductor layer is disclosed, whereby the source and drain of the FET are formed only in the strain effect silicon layer. The FET may be formed as a gate electrode of a p-channel type field effect transistor, and a gate electrode of a n-channel type field effect transistor on the silicon layer which has the strain effect through a gate insulating film. The sources and drains of p- and n-type diffusion layers are then formed in the silicon layer having the strain effect, on both sides of the gate electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2008
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi Noguchi, Mitsuo Soneda
  • Publication number: 20040135210
    Abstract: A field effect transistor of the present invention is formed in a strain effect semiconductor layer, represented by a strain effect silicon layer, formed in an upper layer of a semiconductor substrate. A source/a drain of the field effect transistor are formed only in the strain effect silicon layer. The field effect transistor may be formed as an nMOS transistor, and a pMOS transistor may be formed in the strain effect silicon layer while being isolated from the nMOS transistor through an isolation region. A logic circuit can be formed of these transistors. Although when an nMOS transistor or a pMos transistor is employed in an application requiring a high performance at a low voltage, there occurs a current leak because the junction of a source/a drain is positioned in a silicon germanium layer having a low band gap or formed at an interface of silicon/silicon germanium, the field effect transistor of the present invention prevents occurrence of such a current leak.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 8, 2004
    Publication date: July 15, 2004
    Inventors: Takashi Noguchi, Mitsuo Soneda
  • Patent number: 6682965
    Abstract: A method for forming a Field Effect Transistor (FET) within a strain effect semiconductor layer is disclosed, whereby the source and drain of the FET are formed only in the strain effect silicon layer. The FET may be formed as a gate electrode of a p-channel type field effect transistor, and a gate electrode of a n-channel type field effect transistor on the silicon layer which has the strain effect through a gate insulating film. The sources and drains of p- and n-type diffusion layers are then formed in the silicon layer having the strain effect, on both sides of the gate electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2004
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Takashi Noguchi, Mitsuo Soneda
  • Patent number: 5914631
    Abstract: A voltage controlled delay circuit is formed by m number of gates connected in series, phases of a clock signal and a delay signal are compared by a phase comparator, an up signal or a down signal is output, an integrated signal is generated by an integrator, a voltage signal following this is generated by a buffer and fed back as an operating power source voltage to the voltage controlled delay circuit, and further an internal power source voltage following the voltage signal is generated by a buffer and a pMOS transistor, therefore the internal power source voltage of the required lowest limit can be supplied in response to the frequency of the clock and a reduction of the voltage and conservation of the electric power of the LSI circuit can be achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 22, 1999
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Mitsuo Soneda
  • Patent number: 5856918
    Abstract: An internal power supply circuit, comprising a plurality of charge accumulators, a first power supply terminal, a second power supply terminal, a first switch for connecting the plurality of charge accumulators in parallel to each other in a first state, and a second switch for connecting the plurality of charge accumulators in series with each other in a second state, the charge accumulators connected between the first power supply terminal and the second power supply terminal at either the first state or the second state, and the first state and the second state set repeatedly to raise or lower a voltage between the first power supply terminal and the second power supply terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 5, 1999
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuo Soneda, Akira Li
  • Patent number: 5774007
    Abstract: A clock distributing apparatus which can decrease the clock skew and can prevent the swing of a signal on clock transmission lines and can achieve a low power consumption, a lower noise of a power supply, and a high speed operation, wherein converts clock signals adjusted in phase to the same phase as a reference clock by a PLL circuit to current signals by voltage/current converters and sends the current signals to clock transmission lines and converts the current signals transmitted to the clock transmission lines to voltage signals by current/voltage converters and sends the voltage signals to circuit blocks of an integrated circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 30, 1998
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Mitsuo Soneda
  • Patent number: 5592414
    Abstract: A memory cell circuit which enables reduction of the leak current between a bit line and a memory cell and enables realization of a high speed reading operation and writing operation, wherein a write only circuit and a read only circuit are constructed by a drive transistor and a select transistor, the drive transistor comprising an enhancement type transistor with a threshold voltage set lower than the threshold voltage of the select transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 7, 1997
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuo Soneda, Akihiko Hashiguchi
  • Patent number: 5545941
    Abstract: A crystal oscillator circuit including a quartz vibrator; an inverter circuit connected in parallel to the quartz vibrator and comprised of at least two transistors connected at their output ends to a first power-supply potential or a second power-supply potential lower than the first power-supply potential; a first current mirror circuit, with one current input-output end connected to a connection line with the inverter circuit of the first power-supply potential, the other current input-output end connected to the output end of the oscillator circuit; and either a second current mirror circuit having two current input-output ends, one current input-output end connected to a connection line with the inverter circuit of the second power-supply potential, the other current input-output end connected to the output end of the oscillator circuit, current flowing to one current input-output end, current flowing to the other current input-output end, and the level of the output end of the oscillator circuit being s
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 13, 1996
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuo Soneda, Takahiro Seki
  • Patent number: 5444396
    Abstract: A level shifting circuit for converting a lower logic level into a higher logic level is arranged to prevent a large through current from flowing when the level of an input signal varies. A latch circuit for latching an input binary signal comprises first and second transistors to which there are connected in series third and fourth transistors, respectively, for blocking a current during the level shifting period. Fifth and sixth transistors having a small current capacity are connected parallel to the set of first and third transistors and the set of second and fourth transistors, respectively, to quickly respond to a level change. The fifth and sixth transistors may be dispensed with.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 1994
    Date of Patent: August 22, 1995
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Mitsuo Soneda
  • Patent number: 4858195
    Abstract: An apparatus for sensing an electric charge appearing on at least one bit line of a memory cell comprises a pair of P-channel MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) transistors whose sources are commonly connected, a pair of N-channel MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) transistors whose sources are commonly connected, both pairs of the PMOS and NMOS transistors carrying out latch operations according to control signals supplied to their sources to sense the electric charge appearing on either a first or second bit line. In at least one of the pairs of PMOS and NMOS transistors, the gate of each MOS transistor is connected to either the first or second bit line via a capacitor, a first switching element is disposed between the drain of each MOS transistor and gate thereof, and a second switching element is disposed between the drain of each MOS transistor and a junction to either the first or second bit line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 1987
    Date of Patent: August 15, 1989
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Mitsuo Soneda
  • Patent number: 4839863
    Abstract: Memory cell circuit has a pair of transistors in which the gates are connected to the drains, a first and a second access transistor whose gates are connected to a read line and which are located between gate-drain connection of said pair of transistors and a pair of bit lines. The memory cell circuit also includes a third access transistor whose gate is connected to the read line and is located in the circuit between said first access transistor and the gate of said pair of transistors corresponding to the first access transistor, and a fourth access transistor whose gate is connected to the read line and is located in the circuit between said second access transistor and the gate of said pair of transistors corresponding to the second access transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 1987
    Date of Patent: June 13, 1989
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Mitsuo Soneda
  • Patent number: 4803480
    Abstract: According to the present invention, in a liquid crystal display apparatus, there are provided second horizontal switching elements M.sub.Bl to M.sub.Bm, which are driven at the advanced phase relative to picture element switching signals .phi..sub.Hl to .phi..sub.Hm, at columns L.sub.l to L.sub.m to which a video signal is supplied, a signal, which is derived through said second horizontal switching elements M.sub.Bl to M.sub.Bm, is fed back through an inverting circuit (14) and the like to an input terminal (1), and there are provided third switching elements M.sub.Rl to M.sub.Rm which are turned on at every predetermined period. According to this apparatus, since a signal derived from a liquid crystal cell C is returned to the same liquid crystal cell C, the displacement of the picture and the like can be avoided, any special scanning and the like are not required and a prior art driving circuit and so on can be used as they are.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 1986
    Date of Patent: February 7, 1989
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuo Soneda, Yoshikazu Hazama
  • Patent number: 4802130
    Abstract: A sense amplifier includes two cross-coupled field effect transistors capacitively coupled to respective bit lines from a memory cell. During a precharging operation two capacitors are charged to precharged voltages indicative of the threshold dispersion voltage between the two transistors. Thereafter, during a sensing operation, the precharged voltages are applied to the gates of the transistors to compensate for the threshold dispersion voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 1987
    Date of Patent: January 31, 1989
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Mitsuo Soneda
  • Patent number: 4745406
    Abstract: The present invention is, in a liquid crystal display apparatus, to increase a resolution by disposing every other one of picture element electrodes (P.sub.11 to P.sub.nm) with a displacement of 1/2 picture element pitch and also to obtain an excellent quality of picture by providing color filters (R, G, B) in association with these picture element electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 1986
    Date of Patent: May 17, 1988
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yuji Hayashi, Mitsuo Soneda
  • Patent number: 4694341
    Abstract: A sample-and-hold circuit is provided wherein an input signal is fed via a first gate element to one end of a first capacitor whose other end is alternately grounded, the one end of the first capacitor being connected via a second capacitor to a gate (or base) of a source (or emitter) follower transistor to obtain an output from the source (or emitter) of the transistor which is connected via a second gate element to one end of the first capacitor, while the gate (or base) of the transistor is connected via a third gate element to a DC voltage supply having a predetermined voltage value, and the second and third gate elements are turned on during a first period of the input signal so that a voltage corresponding to the gate-source (or base-emitter) offset voltage of the transistor is stored in the second capacitor, while the first gate element is turned on during a second period of the input signal to produce an output signal equivalent in level to the input signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 1986
    Date of Patent: September 15, 1987
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuo Soneda, Yoshikazu Hazama
  • Patent number: 4591916
    Abstract: A solid state image pickup device comprises first switching elements (S'.sub.11 to S'.sub.mn) arrayed in horizontal and vertical rows and composed of a plurality of P-channel insulated-gate field-effect transistors, the first switching elements in each vertical row having one terminals connected in common, a photoelectric transducer layer (17) disposed over the horizontal and vertical rows of the first switching elements (S'.sub.11 to S'.sub.mn) and electrically connected to other terminals of the first switching elements (S'.sub.11 to S'.sub.mn), and a plurality of second switching elements (T.sub.1 to T.sub.n) disposed respectively for the vertical rows of the first switching elements (S'.sub.11 to S'.sub.mn) and connected respectively to the one terminals connected in common of the first switching elements in the respective vertical rows, with the arrangement thereof wherein the horizontal rows of the first switching elements (S'.sub.11 to S'.sub.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 1983
    Date of Patent: May 27, 1986
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuo Soneda, Toshikazu Maekawa, Takaji Ohtsu