Patent ID: 7755963

Claim:
A sense amplifier, comprising: sense amplifier drive unit having a sense amplifying circuit including a pull-up activating terminal and a pull-down activating terminal, wherein the sense amplifying circuit performs a pull-up drive by a voltage applied to the pull-up activating terminal and a pull-down drive by a voltage applied to the pull-down activating terminal; a sense amplifier drive controller comprising: a pull-up drive controller applying a normal pull-up voltage and an overdrive voltage having a voltage level higher than that of the normal pull-up voltage to the pull-up activating terminal, as the voltage applied to the pull-up activating terminal and; a pull-down controller applying a normal pull-down voltage and a negative voltage having a voltage level less than that of the normal pull-down voltage to the pull-down activating terminal, as the voltage applied to the pull-down activating terminal.