Analyzing Sub-Threshold Bitcell Topologies and the Effects of Assist Methods on SRAM VMIN

doi:10.3390/jlpea2020143

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J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2012, 2(2), 143-154; doi:10.3390/jlpea2020143

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Analyzing Sub-Threshold Bitcell Topologies and the Effects of Assist Methods on SRAM V_MIN

James Boley^1,* , Jiajing Wang² and Benton H. Calhoun¹

¹ The Charles L. Brown Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA ² SPARC Core Memory Group, Oracle Corporation, Santa Clara, CA 95054, USA

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 16 February 2012; in revised form: 6 April 2012 / Accepted: 11 April 2012 / Published: 18 April 2012

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from SubVt 2011 Conference)

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Abstract: The need for ultra low power circuits has forced circuit designers to scale voltage supplies into the sub-threshold region where energy per operation is minimized [1]. The problem with this is that the traditional 6T SRAM bitcell, used for data storage, becomes unreliable at voltages below about 700 mV due to process variations and decreased device drive strength [2]. In order to achieve reliable operation, new bitcell topologies and assist methods have been proposed. This paper provides a comparison of four different bitcell topologies using read and write V_MIN as the metrics for evaluation. In addition, read and write assist methods were tested using the periphery voltage scaling techniques discussed in [4–13]. Measurements taken from a 180 nm test chip show read functionality (without assist methods) down to 500 mV and write functionality down to 600 mV. Using assist methods can reduce both read and write V_MIN by 100 mV over the unassisted test case.

Keywords: sub-threshold circuits, low power SRAM; SRAM assist methods; alternative bitcell topologies

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Boley, J.; Wang, J.; Calhoun, B.H. Analyzing Sub-Threshold Bitcell Topologies and the Effects of Assist Methods on SRAM V_MIN. J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2012, 2, 143-154.

AMA Style

Boley J, Wang J, Calhoun BH. Analyzing Sub-Threshold Bitcell Topologies and the Effects of Assist Methods on SRAM V_MIN. Journal of Low Power Electronics and Applications. 2012; 2(2):143-154.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Boley, James; Wang, Jiajing; Calhoun, Benton H. 2012. "Analyzing Sub-Threshold Bitcell Topologies and the Effects of Assist Methods on SRAM V_MIN." J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2, no. 2: 143-154.

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