NONVOLATILE SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE, AND RESISTANCE CONTROL METHOD FOR VARIABLE RESISTIVE ELEMENT

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a resistance control method for a variable resistive element which can reduce variation in resistance switching characteristics between the elements, thereby providing a highly-reliable nonvolatile semiconductor storage device.SOLUTION: In memory operation for putting resistance states of variable resistive elements R1-R3 into low resistance states, the voltage necessary to reduce resistance of the variable resistive elements is used to charge a capacitor 11 beforehand. After charging, one end of the capacitor 11 is electrically connected to one end of a variable resistive element whose resistance is to be reduced, and a current necessary for reducing resistance of the variable resistive element is supplied by using a charge accumulated in the capacitor 11. On discharging the capacitor 11, the operation for achieving the low resistance state is automatically completed.