a 65nm 8t sub-v sram employing sense-amplifier redundancy
TRANSCRIPT
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A 65nm 8T Sub-Vt SRAM Employing Sense-Amplifier
Redundancy
Naveen Verma and Anantha ChandrakasanMassachusetts Institute of Technology
ISSCC 2007
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Energy Minimization• Minimum energy VDD for logic results from opposing active and leakage components
• SRAMs remain “on” to retain data: minimum energy VDD is lowest functional VDD
- DIBL reduces ILEAK by 4x from 1V to 300mV
Voltage scaling gives power savings of >10x
Simulation of CLA adder E/
Op
(J)
VDD (V)
ELEAK = ILEAKVDDdt∫Op
EACT=CVDD2
ETOT
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Outline
• Low-voltage SRAM challenges• Sub-Vt bit-cell• Read/write peripheral circuit assists • Sense-amplifier redundancy• Prototype measurements• Conclusions
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Sub-Vt MOSFET Characteristic
>103 104 107ID,µ
ID,-4σ
ID,+4σ
In Sub-Vt:1) Device strength varies exponentially with Vt2) ION/IOFF is severely degraded
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6T Low Voltage Failures
Relative device strengths determine
readabilty/writeability
Read SNM(Mean, 3σ,
4σ)
Hold SNM(Mean, 3σ,
4σ)
Write margin(Mean, 3σ, 4σ)
BLBL
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1σ, 2σ, 3σ, 4σ
Read Current Distribution Array performance determined by worst-case IREAD
In sub-Vt, reduced overdrive lowers mean IREAD, and variation causes larger degradation of tail IREAD
IREAD
“1”
“1”
BL
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Bit-Line Leakage
ILEAK depends on stored data and can exceed IREAD at low voltages
IREAD,µ , IREAD,3σ , IREAD,4σ
“1”“1”
“0”“0”
“0”“0”
“0”
IREAD
TotalILEAK
“0”
“0”
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8T Bit-Cell For Sub-Vt SRAM
Buffer eliminates read SNM limitation,peripheral assists allow sub-Vt write and sensing
WL
BLBL
RDWL
RDBL
M1M2
M3M4
M5M6M7M8
VVDD
Buffer-Foot
6 T Storage Cell 2T ReadBuffer
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“Zero” Sub-Vt Leakage Read-Buffer
“0”
“1” (256, 128, 64 Cells)
“0”
“1” (64 Cells)“1” (128 Cells)
“1” (256 Cells)
Read buffer VDS=0, VGS<0
6T Storage
Cell
“0”
PCHRG
Sub-Vtleakage
6T Storage
Cell
“0”
PCHRG
“1”
No sub-Vtleakage
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Read-Buffer Foot-Driver Limitation
Read-buffer foot-driver must have strong drive currentbut consume minimal leakage power and area
6T 6T
“1”
“1”
6T 6T
“0”
“0”128 X IREAD
ILEAK
Acc
ess e
dR
owU
nacc
esse
dR
ow
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Gate-Boosted Foot-Driver
WLB
BFB
>500x
VEnhance drive current of near
minimum sized NMOS by >500x
CBOOST
M1M2
M3
DD
WLB
VDDBoosted node has minimal capacitance
BFB 128 X IREAD
Array
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Sub-Vt Write
To ensure write, boost WL 50mV and reduce cell supply
“1” “0”
Adjust trip voltage
Increase gate drive
Reduce gate drive
Mean
3σ
4σ
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Virtual Cell Supply
Access devices and supply-
driver interact to accurately
set VVDDStacked-effect reduces leakage
during hold
VVDD
WR
QQB
VVDD settles to low intermediate
voltage
“1” “1”
VVDD
“1” “0”
WR“1”
QB
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Sense-Amp Area LimitationSeparate VVDD in non-interleaved layout for minimum
voltage and reduced WL load
Sense-amplifier limits yield due to increased number and reduced area
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
8T
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Sense-Amplifier Offset
1) Global variation degrades sense-amp accuracy for single-ended read- Pseudo-differential structure eliminates offset
2) Local variation results in uncorrelated error distribution of sense-amps- Only device up-sizing can reduce offset deviation
1σ, 2σ, 3σ
BLREF
ENB
Q
Diff. Input (60mV)
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Sense-Amplifier Redundancy1) Enable only one of N sense-amps
for each RDBL similarly applied to flash A-D [Flynn, TCAS’03]
2) Sense-amp offsets are from local variation only (uncorrelated)
Total area is constrained; each sense-amp must be smaller
With redundancy, area of each SA
must decrease, and its offset goes up.
N=1,Area=1
N=2, Area=1/2
EN0 EN1
RDBL
Q
REF
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Sense-Amplifier Redundancy
Probability of error depends on joint
probability that all sense-amps fail:PERR,tot=(PERR,N)N
InputSwing PERR,1
PERR,2
PERR,4
PERR,8
N=8N=4
N=2
(N=1) (N=2) (N=4)
Column Pitch
(N=8)Sense-Amp Area
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Redundancy Implementation
Start-up loop selects between 2 sense-
amps, yielding error improvement of 5x
N=2
EN0 EN1
RD
BL
Peri p
her a
lre
dun d
ancy
cont
rol refRead0
refRead1
saRef
rdncyCtrl
rdncyClk
Ref. Bit Cell
2 F-FSelection
logic
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Prototype SRAM
1.89mm
1.12
mm
256kbCapacity
350mVVMIN
8 Blocks X 256 Rows X 128 ColumnsArchitecture
65nm CMOSProcess
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Measured Leakage Power
0 ºC
25 ºC
75 ºCData correctly
retained at 300mV,
PLEAK=1.65µW>20x leakage-power savings
at 350mV
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Leakage-Power & Area Comparison
3x leakage power savings and 30% area overhead compared with 6T cell
1.3x Area Increase
1.3x Area Saving
N orm
aliz
edCe
llA
rea
1.0
6T Cell
8T Cell
10T Cell
[ISSCC’06]
Nor m
a liz
e dL e
a kag
eP
o wer
1.0
6T Cell(0.6V)
8T Cell(0.35V)
10T Cell(0.35V)
[ISSCC’06]
3x Leakage Saving
1.1x Leakage Saving
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Active Performance
75ºC
0ºC25ºC
25kHz
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Conclusions
• 6T cell is ratioed; sub-Vt variation causes read/write failures and long access times
• 8T cell and peripheral assists eliminate BL leakage, read/write limitations
• Sense-amplifier redundancy improves sensing yield by 5x
Acknowledgments: Intel Foundation Ph.D. Fellowship Program and DARPA. IC fabrication provided by TI.