Patent ID: 7800961

Claim:
A word line driver for use in a semiconductor memory device, the word line driver comprising: a boosted voltage generator that generates a boosted voltage by receiving an internal power supply voltage and pumping electric charge; a sub word line driver that receives the internal power supply voltage, activates a boosted voltage control signal in a normal operating mode in response to a command signal, and activates the boosted voltage control signal after supplying the internal power supply voltage to a boost node in a command operating mode; and a main word line driver that enables a word line with the boosted voltage by supplying the boosted voltage to the boost node in response to the boosted voltage control signal in the normal operating mode, and enables the word line with the boosted voltage after boosting the word line to the internal power supply voltage by changing the boost node from the internal power supply voltage to the boosted voltage in the command operating mode.