Patent ID: 7319627

Claim:
A sense amplifier circuit for a non-volatile semiconductor memory device to output data written in a selected non-volatile memory cell, the selected non-volatile memory cell comprising: a first capacitor and a second capacitor arranged in series; a detection transistor that has a gate electrode connected to a joint terminal of the first capacitor and the second capacitor; and a selection gate transistor that has a source electrode linked to a drain electrode of the detection transistor, and a gate electrode linked to a selection signal terminal giving a corresponding selection signal, the sense amplifier circuit being constructed as a current mirror circuit including a first mirror transistor and a second mirror transistor of a mirror circuit, wherein the selection gate transistor and the detection transistor of the selected non-volatile memory cell are included as part of a load circuit connected to a drain electrode of the second mirror transistor, and an operating current of the selection gate transistor is smaller than an operating current of the detection transistor, and an electric current output from the second mirror transistor is determined by the operating current of the selection gate transistor.