METHOD FOR DRIVING SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY ELEMENT

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for driving a semiconductor memory element capable of minimizing useless current consumption in a self-refresh (SR) mode.SOLUTION: A method for driving semiconductor memory element includes the steps of: (1) initializing a first storage value corresponding to refresh time characteristics of each row; (2) storing data of each column as a second storage value in a first row among rows with the first storage value set; (3) performing a detection operation to set a refresh period and setting the first storage value in accordance with the result thereof; (4) re-storing the second storage value in the first row; (5) repeating (2) to (4) until the setting of the first storage value to all remaining rows is completed or until an SR mode is terminated; (6) setting the first storage value corresponding to a row for performing a writing operation in a normal active mode to "0" after getting away from the SR mode; and (7) repeating (2) to (6) every SR mode. The method determines whether to execute or skip a refresh operation to the remaining rows according to a refresh period selected with the first storage value.