US Patent 10141036 Semiconductor memory device and reading method thereof

The invention provides a semiconductor memory device and a reading method thereof, which are capable of suppressing a peak current when pre-charging a bit line are provided. The reading method of a flash memory of the present invention includes steps of: pre-charging a selected bit line; and reading a voltage or a current of the pre-charged selected bit line. The step of pre-charging is performed by pre-charging a sense node SNS to Vcc−Vth at a time t1, pre-charging a node TOBL to VCLAMP2 at a time t2, pre-charging the node TOBL to VCLAMP1 at a time t5, and pre-charging the sense node SNS to Vcc at a time t6.