A split-path sensing circuit for spin torque transfer MRAM

Jisu Kim; Taehui Na; Jung Pill Kim; Seung H. Kang; Seong Ook Jung

doi:10.1109/TCSII.2013.2296136

A split-path sensing circuit for spin torque transfer MRAM

Jisu Kim, Taehui Na, Jung Pill Kim, Seung H. Kang, Seong Ook Jung

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

As process technology scales down, sensing becomes difficult during read operations because the supply voltage, i.e., V_DD, decreases and the process variation increases. Thus, a high enough sensing yield cannot be obtained with a conventional sensing circuit in deep submicron process technology. In this brief, a split-path sensing circuit is proposed to achieve a large enough sensing margin by using a variable reference voltage. The proposed sensing circuit is verified using Monte Carlo HSPICE simulation with industry-compatible low-leakage 45-nm model parameters. The proposed circuit has a sensing yield of 99% for 1-Mb memory with a sensing time of 1 ns and a sensing yield of 99% for 32-Mb memory with a sensing time of 3 ns.

Original language	English
Article number	6716031
Pages (from-to)	193-197
Number of pages	5
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs
Volume	61
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TCSII.2013.2296136
Publication status	Published - 2014 Mar

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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10.1109/TCSII.2013.2296136

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abstract = "As process technology scales down, sensing becomes difficult during read operations because the supply voltage, i.e., VDD, decreases and the process variation increases. Thus, a high enough sensing yield cannot be obtained with a conventional sensing circuit in deep submicron process technology. In this brief, a split-path sensing circuit is proposed to achieve a large enough sensing margin by using a variable reference voltage. The proposed sensing circuit is verified using Monte Carlo HSPICE simulation with industry-compatible low-leakage 45-nm model parameters. The proposed circuit has a sensing yield of 99% for 1-Mb memory with a sensing time of 1 ns and a sensing yield of 99% for 32-Mb memory with a sensing time of 3 ns.",

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AB - As process technology scales down, sensing becomes difficult during read operations because the supply voltage, i.e., VDD, decreases and the process variation increases. Thus, a high enough sensing yield cannot be obtained with a conventional sensing circuit in deep submicron process technology. In this brief, a split-path sensing circuit is proposed to achieve a large enough sensing margin by using a variable reference voltage. The proposed sensing circuit is verified using Monte Carlo HSPICE simulation with industry-compatible low-leakage 45-nm model parameters. The proposed circuit has a sensing yield of 99% for 1-Mb memory with a sensing time of 1 ns and a sensing yield of 99% for 32-Mb memory with a sensing time of 3 ns.

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A split-path sensing circuit for spin torque transfer MRAM

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