Operation principle

DRAM is usually arranged in a square array of one capacitor and transistor per cell. The illustrations to the right show a simple example with only 4 by 4 cells (modern DRAM can be thousands of cells in length/width).
The long lines connecting each row are known as word lines. Each column is actually composed of two bit lines, each one connected to every other storage cell in the column. (The illustration to the right does not include this important detail.) They are generally known as the + and − bit lines. A sense amplifier is essentially a pair of cross-connected invertersbetween the bit lines. That is, the first inverter is connected from the + bit line to the − bit line, and the second is connected from the − bit line to the + bit line. This is an example ofpositive feedback, and the arrangement is only stable with one bit line high and one bit line low.
To read a bit from a column, the following operations take place:
The sense amplifier is switched off and the bit lines are precharged to exactly matching voltages that are intermediate between high and low logic levels. The bit lines are constructed symmetrically to keep them balanced as precisely as possible.
The precharge circuit is switched off. Because the bit lines are very long, theircapacitance will hold the precharge voltage for a brief time. This is an example ofdynamic logic.
The selected row's word line is driven high. This connects one storage capacitor to one of the two bit lines. Charge is shared between the selected storage cell and the appropriate bit line, slightly altering the voltage on the line. Although every effort is made to keep the capacitance of the storage cells high and the capacitance of the bit lines low, capacitance is proportional to physical size, and the length of the bit lines means that the net effect is a very small perturbation of one bit line's voltage.
The sense amplifier is switched on. The positive feedback takes over and amplifies the small voltage difference until one bit line is fully low and the other is fully high. At this point, the row is "open" and a column can be selected.
Read data from the DRAM is taken from the sense amplifiers, selected by the column address. Many reads can be performed while the row is open in this way.
While reads proceed, current is flowing back up the bit lines from the sense amplifiers to the storage cells. This restores (refreshes) the charge in the storage cell. Due to the length of the bit lines, this takes significant time beyond the end of sense amplification, and overlaps with one or more column reads.
When done with the current row, the word line is switched off to disconnect the storage capacitors (the row is "closed"), the sense amplifier is switched off, and the bit lines are precharged again.
To write to memory, the row is opened and a given column's sense amplifier is temporarily forced to the desired state, so it drives the bit line, which charges the capacitor to the desired value. Due to the positive feedback, the amplifier will then hold it stable even after the forcing is removed. During a write to a particular cell, the entire row is read out, one value changed, and then the entire row is written back in, as illustrated in the figure to the right.
Typically, manufacturers specify that each row should be refreshed every 64 ms or less, according to the JEDEC (Foundation for developing Semiconductor Standards) standard.Refresh logic is commonly used with DRAMs to automate the periodic refresh. This makes the circuit more complicated, but this drawback is usually outweighed by the fact that DRAM is much cheaper and of greater capacity than SRAM. Some systems refresh every row in a tight loop that occurs once every 64 ms. Other systems refresh one row at a time—for example, a system with 2¹³ = 8192 rows would require a refresh rate of one row every 7.8 µs (64 ms divided among 8192 rows). A few real-time systems refresh a portion of memory at a time based on an external timer that governs the operation of the rest of the system, such as the vertical blanking interval that occurs every 10–20 ms in video equipment. All methods require some sort of counter to keep track of which row is the next to be refreshed. Most DRAM chips include that counter; older kinds require external refresh logic to hold that counter. (Under some conditions, most of the data in DRAM can be recovered even if the DRAM has not been refreshed for several minutes.