Robust TFET SRAM cell for ultra-low power IoT applications

Design of ultra-low power SRAM with robust operation for Internet of Thing (IoT) sensor node is a new challenge. In this work, a novel 9T TFET based SRAM bit cell is proposed. The analysis and simulation results demonstrate that the proposed cell eliminates read disturb issue and outperforms the state-of-the-art 9T TFET bit cell in terms of static and dynamic write performance. The presented circuit topology incorporates power cut-off and write ‘0’ only technique to enhance the write performance. The proposed cell exhibits 1.15× higher write margin (WM), 25% lower write delay, consumes 73% (57%) lower write (average) energy, 7% smaller standby leakage power measured at V_DD = 0.3 V. The proposed cell also shows significant improvement in the read/write performance as compared with existing 7T and 8T TFET cells. Our proposed cell also eliminates half-select disturb issue to make it suitable for bit-interleaving architecture that is a must for enhanced soft error immunity.     

A 220 mV robust read-decoupled partial feedback cutting based low-leakage 9T SRAM for Internet of Things (IoT) applications

In this work, a 9T subthreshold SRAM cell is proposed with the reduced leakage power and improved stability against the PVT variations. The proposed cell employs the read decoupling to improve the read stability, and the partial feedback cutting approach to control the leakage power with improved read/write ability. The incorporated stacking effect further improves the leakage power. The simulated leakage power for the proposed cell is 0.61×, 0.49×, 0.80× and 0.55×, while the read static noise margin (RSNM) is 2.5×, 1×, 1.05× and 0.96×, write static noise margin (WSNM) 0 is 1.5×, 1.8×, 1.68× and 1.9× and WSNM 1 is 0.95×, 1.2×, 1.05×, and 1.2× at 0.4 V when compared with the conventional 6T and state of arts (single ended 6T, PPN based 10T and data aware write assist (DAWA) 12T SRAM architectures) respectively. The minimum supply voltage at which this cell can successfully operate is 220 mV. A 4 Kb memory array has also been simulated using proposed cell and it consumes 0.63×, 0.67× and 0.63× less energy than 6T during read, write 1 and write 0 operations respectively for supply voltage of 0.3 V.     

A robust and low-power near-threshold SRAM in 10-nm FinFET technology

This paper presents a robust and low-power single-ended robust 11T near-threshold SRAM cell in 10-nm FinFET technology. The proposed cell eliminates write disturbance and enhances write performance by disconnecting the path between cross-coupled inverters during the write operation. FinFETs suffer from width quantization, and SRAM performance is highly dependent to transistors sizing. The proposed structure with minimum sized tri-gate FinFETs operates without failure under major process variations. In addition, read disturbance is reduced by isolating the storage nodes during the read operations. To reduce power consumption this cell uses only one bit-line for both read and write operations. The proposed SRAM cell reduces write delay, average power and PDP by 20, 78 and 62%, respectively as compared to the 9T single-ended SRAM cell. Moreover, the proposed cell enhances write static noise margin by 33% under process variation.     

A new low-power 10T SRAM cell with improved read SNM

This paper describes the characteristics of a new 10T structure for SRAM cell that works quite well in the sub-threshold region. This new architecture has good characteristics in write and read delay and energy compared with other new structures. This new 10T topology improves read static noise margin (SNM) and write operation speed with respect to other topologies in the same or even lower power consumption. The new topology has at least 13% lower power consumption compared with the best of recent architectures. Its write characteristics also are similar to those of 6T-SRAM, which has improved write delay and energy. The new 10T SRAM cell also consumes lower power compared with other cells. The stacking is used to suppress the standby leakage through the read path. The simulations were performed using HSPICE 2011 in a 16 nm bulk CMOS Berkeley predictive technology model (BPTM).     

A Near-Threshold Soft Error Resilient 7T SRAM Cell with Low Read Time for 20 nm FinFET Technology

Shrinking of technology node in advanced VLSI devices and scaling of supply voltage degrade the performance characteristics and reduce the soft error resilience of modern downscaled digital circuits. In this paper, we propose a reliable near-threshold 7T SRAM cell with single ended read and differential write operations based on a previous proposed 5T cell. Our new cell improves read speed without degrading of write speed compared to the recently reported 7T cell. Furthermore, our proposed cell provides high soft error reliability amongst all the SRAM cells mentioned in this paper. We compared the performance and reliability characteristics of 5T, 6T, 8T and previous 7T cells with our new 7T SRAM cell to show its efficacy. The simulations are performed using HSPICE in 20 nm FinFET technology at V_DD = 0.5 V. The results show that the new 7T cell has high write speed, read and write margins with improved read speed and low leakage power in the hold “0” state compared to 5T cell. In addition, the study of performance parameters under process and environmental variations considering ageing effect in near-threshold region shows the robustness of the proposed 7T SRAM cell against these variations.     

Stability and leakage characteristics of novel conducting PMOS based 8T SRAM cell

The stability and leakage power of SRAMs have become an important issue with scaling of CMOS technology. This article reports a novel 8-transistor (8T) SRAM cell improving the read and write stability of data storage elements and reducing the leakage current in idle mode. In read operation, the bit-cell keeps the noise-vulnerable data ‘low’ node voltage close to the ground level and thus producing near-ideal voltage transfer characteristics essential for robust read functionality. In write operation, a negative bias on the cell facilitates to change contents of the bit. Unlike the conventional 6T cell, there is no conflicting read and write requirement on sizing the transistors. In standby mode, the built-in stacked device in the 8T cell reduces the leakage current significantly. The 8T SRAM cell implemented in a 130 nm CMOS technology demonstrates 2× higher read stability while bearing 20% better write-ability at 1.2 V typical condition and a reduction by 45% in leakage power consumption compared to the standard 6T cell. Results of the bit-cell architecture were also compared to the dual-port 8T SRAM cell. The stability enhancement and leakage power reduction provided with the proposed cell are confirmed under process, voltage and temperature variations.     

High Performance Process Variations Aware Technique for Sub-threshold 8T-SRAM Cell

The demand of low power high density integrated circuits is increasing in modern battery operated portable systems. Sub-threshold region of MOS transistors is the most desirable region for energy efficient circuit design. The operating ultra-low power supply voltage is the key design constraint with accurate output performance in sub-threshold region. Degrading of the performance metrics in Static random access memory (SRAM) cell with process variation effects are of major concern in sub-threshold region. In this paper, a bootstrapped driver circuit and a bootstrapped driver dynamic body biasing technique is proposed to assist write operation which improves the write-ability of sub-threshold 8T-SRAM cell under process variations. The bootstrapped driver circuit minimizes the write delay of SRAM cell. The bootstrapped driver dynamic body bias increases the output voltage levels by boosting factor therefore increasing in switching threshold voltage of MOS devices during hold and read operation of SRAM latch. The increment in threshold voltage improves the static noise margin and minimizing the process variation effects. Monte-Carlo simulation results with 3 \(\sigma \) Gaussian distributions show the improvements in write delay by 11.25 %, read SNM by 12.20 % and write SNM by 12.57 % in 8T-SRAM cell under process variations at 32 nm bulk CMOS process technology node.     

An Ultra-Low-Power 9T SRAM Cell Based on Threshold Voltage Techniques

This paper presents a new nine-transistor (9T) SRAM cell operating in the subthreshold region. In the proposed 9T SRAM cell, a suitable read operation is provided by suppressing the drain-induced barrier lowering effect and controlling the body–source voltage dynamically. Proper usage of low-threshold voltage (L-\(V_{\mathrm{t}}\)) transistors in the proposed design helps to reduce the read access time and enhance the reliability in the subthreshold region. In the proposed cell, a common bit-line is used in the read and write operations. This design leads to a larger write margin without using extra circuits. The simulation results at 90 nm CMOS technology demonstrate a qualified performance of the proposed SRAM cell in terms of power dissipation, power–delay product, write margin, read access time and sensitivity to process, voltage and temperature variations as compared to the other most efficient low-voltage SRAM cells previously presented in the literature.     

一种基于位交错结构的亚阈值10管SRAM单元

提出了一种基于位交错结构的亚阈值10管SRAM单元,实现了电路在超低电压下能稳定地工作,并降低了电路功耗。采用内在读辅助技术消除了读干扰问题,有效提高了低压下的读稳定性。采用削弱单元反馈环路的写辅助技术,极大提高了写能力。该10管SRAM单元可消除半选干扰问题,提高位交错结构的抗软错误能力。在40 nm CMOS工艺下对电路进行了仿真。结果表明,该10管SRAM单元在低压下具有较高的读稳定性和优异的写能力。在0.4 V工作电压下,该10管SRAM单元的写裕度为传统6管单元的14.55倍。     

NV-SRAM: a nonvolatile SRAM with backup ferroelectric capacitors

This paper demonstrates new circuit technologies that enable a 0.25-μm ASIC SRAM macro to be nonvolatile with only a 17% cell-area overhead. New capacitor-on-metal/via-stacked-plug process technologies permit a nonvolatile SRAM (NV-SRAM) cell to consist of a six-transistor ASIC SRAM cell and two backup ferroelectric capacitors stacked over the SRAM portion. READ and WRITE operations in this NV-SRAM cell are very similar to those of a standard SRAM, and this NV-SRAM shares almost all the circuit properties of a standard SRAM. Because each memory cell can perform STORE and RECALL individually, both can execute massive-parallel operations. A V_dd/2 plate-line architecture makes READ/WRITE fatigue negligible. A 512-byte test chip was successfully fabricated to show compatibility with ASIC technologies     

MRAM Cell Technology for Over 500-MHz SoC

This paper describes newly developed magnetic random access memory (MRAM) cell technology suitable for high-speed memory macros embedded in next-generation system LSIs: a two-transistor one-magnetic tunneling junction (2T1MTJ) cell structure, a write-line-inserted MTJ, and a 5T2MTJ cell structure. The 2T1MTJ cell structure makes it possible to significantly improve the write margin and accelerate the operating speed to 200 MHz. Its high compatibility with SRAM specifications and its wide write margin were confirmed by measuring 2T1MTJ MRAM test chips. Although the cell structure requires a small-writing-current MTJ, the current can be reduced to 1mA using the newly developed write-line-inserted MTJ. Further development to reduce the current down to 0.5 mA is required to obtain a cell area of 1.9 mum², which is smaller than the SRAM cell area, in the 0.13-mum CMOS process. The 5T2MTJ cell structure also enables random-access operation over 500 MHz because the sensing signal is amplified in each cell. Random access time of less than 2 ns can be achieved with SPICE simulation when the magnetic resistance is 5 kOmega and the magnetoresistive (MR) ratio is more than 70%     

新型4T SRAM的读辅助电路设计

SoC芯片的很大一部分面积被存储器占据,而静态随机存储器SRAM为主要部分,因此高密度的SRAM研究引起更多重视。随着半导体工艺的不断发展,SRAM存储器的读写性能愈发重要。研究和分析了两种高密度、低功耗、高速的SRAM读辅助电路,即降低字线电压电路和增大供电电压电路。针对存储密度提升的4T SRAM,通过使用读辅助电路,增强了数据读取的稳定性,同时可以保证SRAM的数据写能力。在55 nm CMOS工艺条件下,相对传统6T SRAM,4T存储单元的面积减小20%。仿真结果表明,通过在外围电路中设计辅助电路,4T SRAM的读稳定性改善了134%。     

Highly stable,low power FinFET SRAM cells with exploiting dynamic back-gate biasing

In this paper, we propose two independent gate (IG) FinFET SRAM cells that use PMOS access transistors and back-gate (BG) biasing to achieve a high-stability performance. In the first cell, the back-gate of the access transistors is connected to the adjacent storage nodes, and the back-gate of the pull-down transistors is dynamically biased. Simulations indicate that the first proposed cell offers higher read static noise-margin (SNM), higher write-ability, least static/dynamic power, and a comparable read current compared to the previous IG-6TSRAMs. The second cell is a novel independently-controlled-gate FinFET SRAM cell, which provides a high read stability, the highest write-ability, low static power dissipation and high read current compared to the previously reported independently-controlled-gate FinFET SchmitTrigger based SRAM cells. This cell supportsbit-interleaving property at V_DD = 0.4 V with high read/write yields.     

Low standby leakage 12T SRAM cell characterisation

In this work, a low power and variability-aware static random access memory (SRAM) architecture based on a twelve-transistor (12T) cell is proposed. This cell obtains low static power dissipation due to a parallel global latch (G-latch) and storage latch (S-latch), along with a global wordline (GWL), which offer a high cell ratio and pull-up ratio for reliable read and write operations and a low cell ratio and pull-up ratio during idle mode to reduce the standby power dissipation. In the idle state, only the S-latch stores bits, while the G-latch is isolated from the S-latch and the GWL is deactivated. The leakage power consumption of the proposed SRAM cell is thereby reduced by 38.7% compared to that of the conventional six-transistor (6T) SRAM cell. This paper evaluates the impact of the chip supply voltage and surrounding temperature variations on the standby leakage power and observes considerable improvement in the power dissipation. The read/write access delay, read static noise margin (SNM) and write SNM were evaluated, and the results were compared with those of the standard 6T SRAM cell. The proposed cell, when compared with the existing cell using the Monte Carlo method, shows an appreciable improvement in the standby power dissipation and layout area.     

一种面向可容错应用的低功耗SRAM架构

提出了一种面向可容错应用的低功耗SRAM架构。通过对输入数据进行预编码,提出的SRAM架构实现了以较小的精度损失降低SRAM电路功耗。设计了一种单端的8管SRAM单元。该8管单元采用读缓冲结构,提升了读稳定性。采用打破反馈环技术,提升了写能力。以该8管单元作为存储单元的近似SRAM电路能够在超低压下稳定工作。在40 nm CMOS工艺下对电路进行仿真。结果表明,该8管单元具有良好的稳定性和极低的功耗。因此,以该8管单元作为存储单元的近似SRAM电路具有非常低的功耗。在0.5 V电源电压和相同工作频率下,该近似SRAM电路的功耗比采用传统6管单元的SRAM电路功耗降低了59.86%。     

Analysis of a read disturb-free 9T SRAM cell with bit-interleaving capability

In this work, we proposed a single-ended read disturb-free 9T SRAM cell for bit-interleaving application. A column-aware feedback-cutoff write scheme is employed in the cell to achieve higher write margin and non-intrusive bit-interleaving configuration. And a dynamic read-decoupled assist scheme is utilized by cutting loop to relax the interdependence between stability and read current, resulting in robust read operation and better read performance simultaneously. Moreover, the lower write and leakage energy consumptions are also achieved. We compared area, stability, SNM sensitivity and energy consumption between proposed 9T and standard 6T bit-cells. The write ability of 9T cell is 1.40× higher that of 6T cell at 1.0 V, and 8.16× higher at 0.3 V. The write and leakage energy dissipations are 26% and 13% lower than that of 6T at 1.0 V. In addition, robust read and better process variation tolerance are provided for proposed design with area penalty.     

Novel low-power and stable SRAM cells for sub-threshold operation at 45 nm

In scaled technologies with lower supply voltage, conventional Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) cell suffers from unsuccessful read & write operation due to high off state current in sub-threshold region at nanometre technologies. This work proposes new functional low-power designs of SRAM cells with 7, 8, 9 and 12 transistors which operate at only 0.4V power supply in sub-threshold operation at 45 nm technology. Stability analysis is carried out using static noise margins as well as N-curve cell stability metrics. For performance measurement, read/write access time and leakage power consumption in hold mode are analysed. The comparison with published designs shows that two new proposed designs namely M8T, MPT8T have 30% less leakage power consumption along with 2× read stability, 2× write ability, more than 60% faster read & write operation.     

A low standby-power fast carbon nanotube ternary SRAM cell with improved stability

Power dissipation,speed and stability are the most important parameters for multiple-valued SRAM design.To reduce the power consumption and further improve the performance of the ternary SRAM cell,we propose a low standby-power fast ternary SRAM cell based on carbon nanotube field effect transistors (CNFETs).The performance is simulated in terms of three criteria including standby-power,delay (write and read) and stability (RSNM).Compared to the novel ternary SRAM cell,our results show that the average standby-power,write and read delay of the proposed cell are reduced by 78.1％,39.6％ and 58.2％,respectively.In addition,the RSNM under process variations is 2.01 × and 1.95× of the conventional and novel ternary SRAM cells,respectively.     

Single-Ended Boost-Less (SE-BL) 7T Process Tolerant SRAM Design in Sub-threshold Regime for Ultra-Low-Power Applications

A novel single-ended boost-less 7T static random access memory cell with high write-ability and reduced read failure is proposed. Proposed 7T cell utilizes dynamic feedback cutting during write/read operation. The 7T also uses dynamic read decoupling during read operation to reduce the read disturb. Proposed 7T writes “1” through one NMOS and writes “0” using two NMOS pass transistors. The 7T has mean \((\mu )\) of 222.3 mV (74.1 % of supply voltage) for write trip point where 5T fails to write “1” at 300 mV. It gives mean \((\mu )\) of 276 mV (92 % of supply voltage) for read margin, while 5T fails due to read disturb at 300 mV. The hold static noise margin of 7T is maintained close to that of 5T. The read operation of 7T is 22.5 % faster than 5T and saves 10.8 % read power consumption. It saves 36.9 % read and 50 % write power consumption as compared to conventional 6T. The novel design of proposed 7T consumes least read power and achieves the lowest standard deviation as compared to other reported SRAM cells. The power consumption of 1 kb 7T SRAM array during read and write operations is 0.70\(\times \) and 0.65\(\times \), respectively, of 1 kb 6T array. The techniques used by the proposed 7T SRAM cell allow it to operate at ultra-low-voltage supply without any write assist in UMC 90 nm technology node. Future applications of the proposed 7T cell can potentially be in low-voltage, ultra-low-voltage and medium-frequency operations like neural signal processor, sub-threshold processor, wide-operating-range IA-32 processor, FFT core and low-voltage cache operation.     

A 256 kb 65 nm 8T Subthreshold SRAM Employing Sense-Amplifier Redundancy

Aggressively scaling the supply voltage of SRAMs greatly minimizes their active and leakage power, a dominating portion of the total power in modern ICs. Hence, energy constrained applications, where performance requirements are secondary, benefit significantly from an SRAM that offers read and write functionality at the lowest possible voltage. However, bit-cells and architectures achieving very high density conventionally fail to operate at low voltages. This paper describes a high density SRAM in 65 nm CMOS that uses an 8T bit-cell to achieve a minimum operating voltage of 350 mV. Buffered read is used to ensure read stability, and peripheral control of both the bit-cell supply voltage and the read-buffer's foot voltage enable sub-T4 write and read without degrading the bit-cell's density. The plaguing area-offset tradeoff in modern sense-amplifiers is alleviated using redundancy, which reduces read errors by a factor of five compared to device up-sizing. At its lowest operating voltage, the entire 256 kb SRAM consumes 2.2 muW in leakage power.