Abstract
Circuit techniques for enhancing the retention time and random cycle of logic-compatible embedded DRAMs (eDRAMs) are presented. An asymmetric 2T gain cell utilizes the gate and junction leakages of a PMOS write device to maintain a high data 1 voltage level which enables fast read access using an NMOS read device. A current-mode sense amplifier (C-S/A) featuring a cross-coupled PMOS latch and pseudo-PMOS diode pairs is proposed to overcome the innate problem of small read bit-line (RBL) voltage swing in 2T eDRAMs with improved voltage headroom and better impedance matching under process-voltage-temperature (PVT) variations. A half-swing write bit-line (WBL) scheme is adopted to improve the WBL speed by 33% and reduce its power dissipation by 25% during write-back operation with no effect on retention time. A stepped write word-line (WWL) driver reduces the current drawn from the boosted high and low supplies by 67%. A 192 kb eDRAM test chip with 512 cells-per-BL implemented in a 65 nm low-power (LP) CMOS process shows a random cycle frequency and latency of 667 MHz and 1.65 ns, respectively, at 1.1 V and 85°C. The measured refresh period at a 99.9% bit yield condition was 110 μs which is comparable to that of recently published 1T1C eDRAM designs.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 6081952 |
Pages (from-to) | 547-559 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits |
Volume | 47 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 1 2012 |
Keywords
- 2T gain cell
- Cache
- logic-compatible eDRAM
- random cycle
- sense amplifier