Patent ID: 7082073

Claim:
A method of operating a dynamic random access memory device having an array of memory cells that require periodic refresh, each of the memory cells including a memory cell capacitor formed by a cell plate that is common to the capacitors of a plurality of memory cells, the method comprising: in a normal operating mode, biasing the cell plate to a first voltage; after switching the memory device from operation in the normal mode to operation in a static refresh mode, biasing the cell plate to a second voltage; in the static refresh mode, periodically refreshing the memory cells in the array during a refresh period interspersed with a quiescent period in which none of the memory cells in the array are being refreshed, the quiescent period being substantially longer than the refresh period; in the static refresh mode, biasing the cell plate to the second voltage during the quiescent period; in the static refresh mode, biasing the cell plate to the first voltage during the refresh period; and after switching the memory device from operation in the static refresh mode to operation in the normal mode, biasing the cell plate to the first voltage.