A 128K word/spl times/8 bit dynamic RAM

A 1-Mb DRAM with 128K/spl times/8 bit organization is described. In designing the circuit, half V/SUB cc/ bit line precharge with dummy reverse circuits was adopted for noise reduction. The noise is estimated using a three-dimensional capacitance calculation. In realizing the chip, a 1-/spl mu/m NMOS process with double-level aluminum wiring was used.     

SNOS 1K/spl times/8 static nonvolatile RAM

Using an advanced n-channel, double level polysilicon SNOS technology, a 1K/spl times/8 bit nonvolatile static RAM has been designed. Typical RAM access time is 300 ns, with typical active power dissipation of 300 mW, and standby power of 160 mW. Endurance of 10/SUP 4/ erase/store cycles has been demonstrated. The ability to measure erased and written memory thresholds allows prediction of retention lifetime. For the 8K NVRAM, the minimum retention lifetime is 1 year following a 10 ms erase and store.     

An 8K/spl times/8 bit static MOS RAM fabricated by n-MOS/n-well CMOS technology

A 64 kbit fully static MOS RAM which contains about 402500 elements on the chip area of 5.44/spl times/5.80 mm has been designed. The memory cell is a basic cross-coupled flip-flop with four n-MOSFETs and two polysilicon load resistors. The memory cell size is decreased to 16/spl times/19 /spl mu/m (304 /spl mu/m/SUP 2/) by using advanced n-MOS technology with double-level polysilicon films and photolithography of 2 /spl mu/m dimensions. By applying n-well CMOS technology fabricated on a high-resistivity p-type silicon substrate to peripheral circuits of the RAM, high performance characteristics with high speed access times and low power dissipation are obtained. The RAM is designed for single 5 V operation. Address and chip select access times are typically 80 ns. Power dissipation in the active and standby mode is typically 300 and 75 mW, respectively.     

A 35 ns 2K /spl times/ 8 HMOS static RAM

This paper describes the circuit design and process techniques used to produce a 35-ns 2K /spl times/ 8 HMOS static RAM aimed at future high-end microprocessor applications. The circuit design uses predecoding of the row and column decoder/driver circuits to reduce active power, address-transition detection schemes to equalize internal nodes, and dynamic depletion-mode configurations for increased drive and speed. The technology is 2.5-3.0-/spl mu/m design rule HMOS employing an L/SUB eff/ of 1.7 /spl mu/m, t/SUB ox/=400 /spl Aring/, double-poly resistor loads, RIE and plasma etching, and wafer-stepper lithography. Using these techniques an access time of 35 ns, dc active power of 65 mA, standby power of 14 mA, and die size of 37.5K mil/SUP 2/ has been achieved. The cell size is 728 /spl mu/m/SUP 2/.     

A 64K/spl times/1 bit dynamic ED-MOS RAM

A 64K/spl times/1 bit dynamic RAM based on an innovative short channel ED-MOS process technology and an improved ED-MOS sense amplifier circuit has been realized. The RAM has been designed by using 2-3 /spl mu/m design rules and employing ED-MOS peripheral circuits capable of low supply voltage operation. As a result, dynamic memory operation has been demonstrated with an access time less than 140 ns and a cycle time of 350 ns, using a single 5 V power supply.     

A high-speed Hi-CMOSII 4K static RAM

Using advanced high-performance CMOS (Hi-CMOSII) technology and a high-speed circuit technique, a fully static 4096-word by one-bit RAM with typical address access time of 18 ns and power dissipation of 150 mW has been designed. The power-access-time product realized by the design is almost an order of magnitude better than existing NMOS 4K static RAMs. Moreover, to produce low-cost high-density static RAMs, a new redundancy technique utilizing laser shorting of intrinsic polysilicon is proposed.     

A fast 32 K/spl times/8 CMOS static RAM with address transition detection

A high-speed 256 K (32 K/spl times/8) CMOS static RAM (SRAM) is described. Precharging and equalization schemes are implemented with address-transition-detection (ATD) techniques. With a differential sensing circuitry, a 23-ns access time is achieved (at V/SUB cc/=5 V and 25/spl deg/C) for addresses and chip-select clocks. The operating current is 36 mA in the READ cycle and 28 mA in the WRITE cycle, at 10-MHz cycling frequency. A four-transistor memory cell is designed with double-polysilicon and double -metal layers to achieve high performances. Versatile redundancy schemes consisting of polysilicon laser fuses, logical circuitry, and novel enable/disable controls are designed to repair defective cells. A compensation circuit is used to optimize writing parameters for redundant columns.     

A 30 ns 16K/spl times/1 fully static RAM

A fully static 16K/spl times/1 random access memory (SRAM) with significantly improved speed is discussed. Design innovations using conservative 2.5 /spl mu/m transistors and state-of-the-art double level poly (DLP) scaled NMOS technology were utilized to accomplish 30 ns address and chip select access times with an active power of 550 mW and standby power of 75 mW. A cost effective DLP process was developed using `shared' contacts in the cell. These `shared' contacts utilize second level poly to provide connection between the first poly level and moat, reduced the number of contacts per cell to four. The DPL cell size is 1.6 mil/SUP 2/ (1000 /spl mu/m/SUP 2/) which yields a bar size of 158/spl times/264 mil/SUP 2/ (4.0/spl times/6.7 mm/SUP 2/). In this fully static design a novel architecture was used to power down half of the X-decoders in the active mode using the AO address buffer signals. This technique allowed the use of power saved in the X-decoder to be distributed throughout the circuit to improve overall access times. One of the other major speed improvements came from utilizing column sense amps. The use of the column sense amp improves the overall speed by more than 20 percent. A write cycle of 30 ns has been achieved with a typical write pulse width of 10 ns.     

A 25 ns 8K /spl times/ 8 static MTL/I/SUP 2/L RAM

An experimental 8K /spl times/ 8-bit static MTL RAM has been successfully fabricated in a standard bipolar manufacturing process with 2-/spl mu/m epitaxy and junction isolation, using design rules of 2.2 /spl mu/m minimum dimensions. Despite conservative processing and less aggressive photolithography compared to the most advanced static FET RAMs, a significantly better performance of 25-ns access has been achieved at a comparable bit density of 1730 bits/mm/SUP 2/. Another outstanding feature is the very low power dissipation of only 8 mW in standby and 270 mW at 50-ns or 150 mW at 100 ns-cycle operation. A holding power below 1/spl mu/W has been measured to retain the information in the complete cell array. A further significant advantage is the insensitivity to /spl alpha/-particle radiation which is a characteristic of the MTL structure.     

A 4K/spl times/8 dynamic RAM with self-refresh

A 4K/spl times/8 MOS dynamic RAM using a single transistor cell with on-chip self-refresh is described. The device uses a multiplexed address/data bus. Control of the reconfigurable data bus allows the RAM to operate on either an 8-bit or a 16-bit data bus. The memory cell is fabricated using a double polysilicon n-channel HMOS technology using polysilicon word lines and metal bit lines. Self-refresh is implemented with an on-chip timer, arbiter, counter and multiplexer. A high-speed arbiter resolves simultaneous memory and refresh requests. Redundant rows are used for increased manufacturing yields. Polysilicon fuses are electrically programmed to select redundant rows.     

An 8K/spl times/8 dynamic RAM with self-refresh

The device uses a standard NMOS one-transistor cell and is fabricated with a double polysilicon HMOS technology using polysilicon word lines and folded metal bit lines. Self-refresh is implemented with an on-chip timer, arbiter, and refresh counter. A high-speed arbiter resolves conflicts between refresh cycles and memory accesses. A `ready' output is provided to the processor. A multiplexed bus is provided in the array to carry column addresses and also I/O data paths. Another multiplexed bus is used for data lines between the input buffers, write buffers, secondary sense amplifiers, and output buffers. Redundant rows and columns are used for increased manufacturing yield. Polysilicon fuses are electrically programmed to select redundant elements.     

A 4.5 ns access time 1K /spl times/ 4 bit ECL RAM

An extremely high-speed ECL 4-kbit RAM with maximum access time of 4.5 ns and typical power dissipation of 1.5 W has been developed for cache memories and control store. This performance has been realized by using a very shallow junction transistor with an emitter size of 1.3 /spl times/ 1.5 /spl mu/m, which has a high cutoff frequency of 9 GHz, in conjunction with optimized circuit design. The RAM was housed in a small leadless chip carrier (LCC) package. The overall package size was 0.335 in/SUP 2/. The RAM was designed to have soft-error immunity. The failure rate due to alpha particles has been estimated, through acceleration tests, to be less than 50 FIT.     

A 2K/spl times/8-bit static MOS RAM with a new memory cell structure

A 2K/spl times/8-bit static MOS RAM with a new memory cell structure has been developed. The memory cell consists of six devices including four MOSFETs and two memory load resistors. Two load resistors are fabricated in the second-level polysilicon films over the polysilicon gate MOSFET used as the driver. Thus the memory cell area is determined only by the area of four MOSFETs. By applying the new cell structure and photolithography technology of 3 /spl mu/m dimensions, the cell area of 23/spl times/27 /spl mu/m and the chip area of 3.75/spl times/4.19 mm have been realized. The RAM is nonclocked and single 5 V operation. Access time of about 150 ns is obtained at a supply current of 120 mA.     

A 21-ns 32 K/spl times/8 CMOS static RAM with a selectively pumped p-well array

The design and performance of a 32 K/spl times/8-b CMOS static RAM (SRAM) are presented. The design features a selectively pumped p-well array. Using this array technology, high-impedance polysilicon resistor loads can be used to reduce the array standby current by three orders of magnitude, and the device characteristics can be optimized to achieve high speed in the peripheral circuits. A unique divided-word-line architecture with shared sense amplifiers is used to achieve high-speed read operation. The read speed is further enhanced by a novel quasistatic equalization that minimizes peak current. A high-speed write circuit with a write-to-read transition detection is used to achieve a fast write operation. An advanced 1.2-/spl mu/m double-level-metal CMOS technology was used to fabricate the devices. The access time is 21 ns and the active power is 330 mW at 22 MHz.     

A 16 ns 2K/spl times/8 bit full CMOS SRAM

A high-speed 2K/spl times/8 bit full CMOS SRAM fabricated with a platinum silicide gate electrode and single-level aluminum technology is described. A typical address access time of 16 ns, which is comparable to the 16-kb bipolar SRAMs, was achieved. Typical active and standby power dissipations are 150 mW and 25 nW, respectively. The platinum silicide word line reduces the total address access time by 25%. A compact cell layout design, as well as a 1.5-/spl mu/m device feature size, also gives fast access time. The properly controlled bit line swing voltage provides reliable and fast readout operation. The chip size of the SRAM is 2.7/spl times/3.5 mm.     

A fault-tolerant 30 ns/375 mW 16K/spl times/1 NMOS static RAM

A fault-tolerant 30950 mil/SUP 2/ (19.9 mm/SUP 2/) 16K/spl times/1 static MOS RAM has been fabricated with a single polysilicon E/D NMOS process. Using circuit techniques normally restricted to dynamic RAMs, but adapted for asynchronous operation, the device achieves a typical access time of 30 ns while dissipating only 375 mW. Among the topics discussed in a new single-polysilicon memory cell configuration, the first truly asynchronous bootstrap circuit, an active bit-line equilibration and precharge scheme, and a new power-efficient substrate bias generator. Also described is an on-chip redundancy scheme which consumes approximately 2 percent of the total chip area, does not compromise access time and can be programmed using standard test equipment.     

A high-speed ECL 100K compatible 64/spl times/4 bit RAM with 6 ns access time

An ECL 100K compatible 64/spl times/4 bit RAM with 6 ns access time, 600 mW power dissipation, and a chip size of 4.8 mm/SUP 2/ has been developed for caches and scratchpad memories to enhance the performance of high-speed computer systems. The excellent speed performance together with the high-packing density has been achieved by using an oxide isolation technology in conjunction with novel circuit techniques. The device is adaptable to modern subnanosecond logic arrays, and, hence, is a member of the Siemens SH 100 family.     

A high-speed LSI GaAs 8/spl times/8 bit parallel multiplier

Multiplication is frequently the speed-limiting function in digital signal processing systems. High-speed hardware multiplier ICs can therefore greatly enhance the throughput and bandwidth of many digital systems. In this paper, the design, fabrication, and performance of GaAs parallel multipliers are discussed. The largest of these circuits, an 8/spl times/8 bit multiplier, has 1008 gates, and is by far the most complex GaAs IC demonstrated today. This multiplier forms the 16 bit product of two 8 bit input numbers in 5.25 ns. This corresponds to an equivalent gate propagation delay of 150 ps/gate. The power dissipation ranges between 0.6-2 mW/gate.     

An ultralow power 8K/spl times/8-bit full CMOS RAM with a six-transistor cell

A fully static 8K word by 8 bit CMOS RAM, with a six-transistor CMOS cell structure to achieve an extremely low standby power of less than 50 nW has been developed. A 2 /spl mu/m, double polysilicon CMOS process was utilized to realize a 19/spl times/22 /spl mu/m cell size. Redundance technology with polysilicon laser fuses was also developed for improving fabrication yield with relatively large chip size, i.e. 5.92/spl times/7.49 mm. In addition, for reducing operational power dissipation while maintaining fully static operation from outside on the chip, an internally clocked low-power circuit technology using row address transition detectors was employed, which results in only 15 mW operational power at 1 MHz by cutting off all DC current paths. The RAM offers an 80 ns address access time.     

A 20 ns 64K (4K/spl times/16) NMOS RAM

A 64K (4K/spl times/16) NMOS RAM is described which uses new circuit techniques and design concepts to achieve an average nominal access time of 20 ns. The RAM was built using a relatively straightforward NMOS technology with single-level metal, single-level polycide, an average minimum feature size of 1.7 /spl mu/m, and an effective channel length of 1.2 /spl mu/m. The chip is organized physically into four 16K blocks. Cell area is 292 /spl mu/m/SUP 2/ with a chip area of 32.6 mm/SUP 2/. A four-device split-wordline cell was used to reduce the wordline delay. Chip organization, simplified clocking and timing, and new circuits were especially important for improved performance. An address buffer with internal reference, a switched decoupled bootstrapped decoder, and a self-timed sense amplifier are described.