Download ELEC 516 VLSI System Design and Design Automation Fall

ELEC 516 VLSI System Design and
Design Automation Spring 2010
Lecture 8 - Memory Periphery
Design
Reading Assignment:
Chapter 10 of Rabaey
Chapter 8.3 of Weste
Note: some of the figures in this slide set are adapted from the slide set
of “ Digital Integrated Circuits” by Rabaey, Copyright UCB 2002
1
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Why peripheral circuitry?
• To achieve high very high density memories, area is
of premier importance.
• If compared to FF & latches, the memory cells
trades performance and reliability for reduced area.
• Memory design relies on the peripheral circuitry to
recover both speed and electrical integrity.
• A good designer can make an important difference
when designing reliably the peripheral circuitry.
• Peripheral circuitry includes: Address decoders, IO
drivers/buffers, sensing amplifiers, and memory
timing and control.
2
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Architecture of a memory
• Good example of mixed analog-digital system design
• In addition to the decoders, and sensing amplifiers, control circuitry
is required for timing, multiplexing etc…
• Memory also require some analog building blocks such as voltage
regulator circuit, charge pump, etc…
3
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Periphery
• Address Decoders
– row address - row decoder to enable one memory row out
of 2M row
– column address - column decoder: a 2K -input multiplexers
– When designing the address decoder, it is important to
keep the global memory in perspective. The decoder’s
dimension has to be matched with that of the core memory
cell (pitch matching). Failing to do so leads to a dramatic
wiring overhead with its associated delay and power
dissipation.
• Sense Amplifiers
• Input/Output Buffers
• Control / Timing Circuitry
4
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Row Decoders
• Collection of 2M complex logic gates
• Organized in regular and dense fashion
• Each row address is enabled by a signal WL which
is a logic function of the input address signal. (E.g.
for 10 address signal)
WL0  A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 (( n)and _ decoder )
 A0  A1  A2  A3  A4  A5  A6  A7  A8  A9 (( n)or _ decoder )
WL511  A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 (( n)and _ decoder )
 A0  A1  A2  A3  A4  A5  A6  A7  A8  A9 (( n)or _ decoder )
5
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Row Decoders (II)
• First method - using standard gate implementation
•Useful for up to 5-6 inputs, otherwise the speed will be too
slow.
•Often, speed requirements or size restrict the use of singlelevel decoding. The alternative is a predecoding scheme.
6
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Predecoder
One level logic
Two levels logic (predecoder)
• From 1 level logic to two levels
– Faster,
– Easier to design at the cell pitch,
– Layout is easier.
7
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
A NAND decoder using 2-input pre-decoders
Splitting decoder into two or more logic layers
produces a faster and cheaper implementation
E.g.
WL0  A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9
 ( A0  A1 )( A2  A3 )( A4  A5 )( A6  A7 )( A8  A9 )
WL1
WL0
8
A0A1 A0A1 A0A1 A0A1
A2A3 A2A3 A2A3 A2A3
A1 A0 A0
A3 A2
A1
A2
A3
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Dynamic Row Decoders
Propagation delay is primary concern
Precharge devicesGND
GND
VDD
WL3
VDD
WL2
VDD
WL1
VDD
WL0
VDDf
A0
A0
A1
A1
Dynamic 2-to-4 NOR decoder
WL3
WL2
WL1
WL0
A0
A0
A1
A1
f
2-to-4 MOS dynamic NAND Decoder
• NOR option: Only one line stays high, all other lines pulled low (power).
• NOR decoders are substantially faster but they consume more area than
their NAND counterparts and more power.
9
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Column Decoder
• Responsible for selecting 2k out of 2m bits of the
accessed row.
• Column-decoding is one of the last actions to be
performed in the read-sequence, so that the
decoding can be executed in parallel with other
operations such as memory access and sensing.
Consequently, its propagation delay does not add to
the overall memory access time. Slower decoders
might even be acceptable.
• Two ways of implementations:
– pass transistor mux-based
– tree-based
10
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Pass transistor mux type column decoder
2 input NOR decoder
• Control signals of the pass-transistors are generated
using a K-to-2K pre-decoder.
• Main advantage is its speed, since only a single passtransistor is inserted in the signal path,what introduces
only a minimal extra resistance • Disadvantage - large
BL0 BL1 BL2 BL3
transistor count:
(K+1)2K+ 2K devices are
needed for a 2K-input
S0
A0
decoder. e.g. a 1024-to1 column decoder
S1
requires 12,288
transistors.
S2
• Also the capacitance
A1
and thus the transient
S3
response at node D is
proportional to the
number of input of the
multiplexer.
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
11
D
Tree based column decoder
•Number of devices drastically reduced
•Delay depends on number of pass transistors in series,
increases quadratically with # of sections; prohibitive for
large decoders
•Solutions:
•Buffers
•Progress sizing
•Combination of tree and pass transistor approaches
BL0
BL1
BL2
BL3
A0
A0
A1
A1
12
D
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Tree based column decoder
• uses a binary reduction. No pre-decoder is required. For
2K-input decoder, it needs (1024-1 decoder: 2046 devices)
N tree  2  2
K
BL0
BL1
BL2
A0
A0
A1
A1
D
13
K 1
BL3
   4  2  2  (2  1)
K
• Disadvantages:Delay
depends on number of pass
transistors in series,
increases quadratically with #
of sections; prohibitive for
large decoders
• Solutions:
– Buffers
– Progress sizing
– Combination of tree and
pass transistor approaches
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
ROM connected to a column tree
decoder
To sense Amplifier
14
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Hybrid pass-transistor and tree-based
• A fraction of the address word is pre-decoded (the
msb-side), while the remaining bits are tree-decoded.
This can reduce both the transistor count and the
propagation delay.
• E.g. Consider a 1024-to-1 decoder, pre-decoding 5
bits results in the following transistor tally
N dec  N pre  N pass  Ntree
 (6  25  210  2  (25  1))  1278
• The number of series-connected pass-transistors is
reduced to six
15
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Decoder by circular shift-register
VDD
VDD
WL0
VDD
VDD
WL1
f
f
VDD
VDD
WL2
f
f
f
f
...
R
f
f
R
f
f
R
f
f
VDD
16
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Sense Amplifiers
• functions:
– Amplification - essential for 1T DRAM, where the
signal swing would otherwise be restricted to
approximately 250 mV
– performance speed-up - compensates for the
restricted fan-out driving capability of the memory
cell by accelerating the bit line transition
– power reduction - reducing signal swing on the bit
lines can eliminate a substantial part of the power
dissipation related to charging and discharging the
bit lines.
17
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Sense Amplifier
t
C DV
= ---------------p
Iav
large
make D V as small
as possible
small
Idea: Use Sense Amplifer
small
transition
s.a.
input
18
output
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Differential Voltage sensing Amplifiers
• Differential approach presents numerous advantages:
– Common mode rejection: ability to reject noise that is equally
injected to both inputs and amplifies the difference.
– Noise such as cross-talk between WL & BL can be suppressed.
– Effectiveness of this property is called common mode rejection
ratio (CMRR).
– Spikes at the supply voltage are also suppressed (effectiveness:
power supply rejection ratio PSRR).
• Basic diff amplifier is based on the current mirroring concept:
Inputs are fed to the differential input device M1 and M2, M3 and
M4 act as active current mirror load
V
DD
M
M
3
4
y
Output
M
bit
1
M
2
Bit’
SE
19
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Two stage approach
Vdd Vdd - D
Vdd Vdd - D
D
Vdd - D Vdd
D
D
One stage
2D
Two stages
• Fully differential two stage sensing approach along
with SRAM bit line structure can be used.
20
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Differential Sensing - SRAM
VDD
VDD
BL
PC
VDD
EQ
VDD
y M3
BL
M1
x
SE
WLi
M4
M2
y
x x
x
M5
SE
(b) Doubled-ended Current Mirror Amplifier
VDD
Limits the bit
line swing and
speed up the
Next prechar
SRAM cell i
y
Diff.
x Sense x
Amp
y
y
D
D
(a) SRAM sensing scheme.
y
x
x
SE
(c) Cross-Coupled Amplifier
1. PC is pulled low, PMOS is ON: Equalization. 2. Read operation is started by
disabling the precharge & equal, and one of BL is pulled low 3. Sense ampl is ON:
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
21 SE is turned ON one a sufficient signal is built-up .
2 stage differential amplifier
V
M
y
V
DD
M
3
M
x
SE
M
1
M
2
Vdd Vdd - D
DD
Vdd - D Vdd
2y
4
2x
2x
x
5
D
SE
D
SE
2D
V
DD
• By pulsing the SE control
signal to be active for
short evaluation period,
static power is reduced.
Output
y
SE
(b) two stage differential amplifier
22
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Latch-Based Sense Amplifier
• Initialized in its meta-stable point with EQ
• Once adequate voltage gap created, sense amp enabled with SE
• Positive feedback quickly forces output to a stable operating
point.
EQ
BL
BL
V DD
SE
SE
23
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Latch-Based Sense Amplifier
• Simple and fast implementation.
• Inputs and outputs are merged, so a full rail to rail
transition is enforced on the bit lines.
• This is exactly what’s needed for 1T DRAM, where a
restoration of the signal levels on the bit lines is
necessary for the refresh of the cell contents.
• Cross coupled cell is universally used in DRAM
designs.
• Issue: We need to turn a single ended memory
structure such as DRAM into a differential one.
24
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Charge-Redistribution Amplifier
• The idea is to explore the imbalance
between a large capacitance Clarge
and a much smaller cap Csmall
• The two capacitors are isolated by
the pass transistor M1.
• Initial voltages on L and S are Vref –Vtn
and VDD.
• When pull-down turns ON (ex:M2),
Node discharge slowly (Clarge).
• As long as VL >= Vref –Vtn, M1 is off.
• When the threshold is crossed, M1 is
ON and Vs is discharged very rapidly
• Slow discharge on Clarge generate fast
discharge on Csmall  Can be used for
sensing.
25
Vref
Concept
VL
M2
M3
M1
VS
Csmall
Clarge
Transient Response
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Charge-Redistribution Amplifier―EPROM
V DD
SE
• Disadvantage:
The circuit operates with
very small noise margin:
A small variation on node
L due to noise or leakage
may cause erroneous
discharge of S.
Load
M4
Out
V casc
M3
Cascode
device
Cout
Ccol
WLC
Column
decoder
M2
BL
WL
26
M1
CBL
EPROM
array
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Single-to-Differential Conversion
• A differential sensing amplifier is connected to a single-ended
bit line on one side and a reference voltage on the other side.
WL
BL
x Diff.
cell
x
+
_
S.A.
y
Vref
y
How to make good Vref?
• Depending on the bit line BL, the amplifier toggles in one or the
other direction.
• Having good Vref is a key problem: not easy across a large chip.
27
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Open bitline architecture
with Dummy cell
EQ
L1
R
L0
R0
R1
L
VDD
dummy
cell
CS
SE
BLL
...
CS
BLR
CS
SE
CS
...
CS
dummy
cell
CS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The memory array is divided in two halves, Dif Amp in middle
Dummy cells are used as a reference.
EQ is raised, both BLL and BLR are precharged to Vdd/2.
During read, one word line is enabled (ex: L0), voltage change on BLL.
L is raised on the other half to create the voltage reference, BLR=vdd/2
The sense latch will toggle.
Matching is very important: capacitive coupling can be eliminated as
turning both L0 and L at the same time creates a common-mode signal.
• Advantage: dividing bit lines into two halves reduces the BL cap.
28
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
DRAM Read Process with Dummy Cell
3
3
2
2
BL
precharge
V
1
0
0
BL
V
BL
1
2
3
1
0
BL
0
1
2
t (ns)
3
t (ns)
reading 0
reading 1
3
• Control Sequence:
– Equalize,
V
– Precharge,
– Read (Enable WL)
– Once a good dV is
built we sense the
voltage (Enable SE)
29
EQ
WL
2
SE
1
0
0
1
2
3
t (ns)
control signals
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
RAM timing budget
• Critical path: clock to address delay time-> row address
driver time-> row decode time -> bit-line sense time ->
the setup time to any data register.
• The column decode is usually not in the critical path
because the decoder is usually smaller and the decoder
has the row access time and the bit-line sense time to
operate.
• The write operation is usually faster than the read cycle
because the bit lines are being actively driven by larger
transistors than the memory cell transistors. However
the bit lines may have to be allowed to recover to their
quiescent values before any more access cycles take
place.
• In the static load RAM, this speed depends on the size of
the static pull-up.
• Apart from carefully sizing transistors, the RAM speed
may be increased by pipelining the row decode signal.
30
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Voltage Regulator
Equivalent Model
VDD
Mdrive
VDL
VREF
Vbias
VREF
+
Mdrive
VDL
• Many regulated voltage levels can be required in memory circuitry:
– Boosted word line voltages (to avoid Vt drop ex: 1T DRAM).
– Half Vdd (DRAM bit lines are precharged to Vdd/2).
– Reduced internal supply: internal voltage regulators are required.
– Negative supply bias: An effective way to control the threshold voltages
within a memory
31
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Charge Pump
• Word line boosting and well biasing often require voltage sources that
exceed the supply voltage.
– Can be obtained using charge pump circuits
– CLK high, VB charged to Vdd-Vt, however when CLK goes low, A is
raised to Vdd, B will rise in concert effectively shutting off M1, once B is
one threshold above Vload, M2 is ON and charge transferred to Vload.
32
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Address Transition Detection
• ATD circuit plays an essential role in SRAM and PROM modules.
• It automatically generates the internal signals (ex: SE) upon detection of
a change in the external environment.
V DD
A0
DELAY
td
A1
DELAY
td
A N2 1
DELAY
td
ATD
ATD
…
• A transition of any of the input signal causes ATD to go low for a time td.
• The resulting pulse acts as the main timing reference: large fan-in
requiring proper buffering.
33
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Reliability and Yield
34
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Sensing Parameters in DRAM
• Signal quality degrades gradually
1000
with an increase in density:
C D(1F)
V smax (mv)
– DRAM cell capacitance
degraded from 70fF to 30fF (16K)
Q S(1C)
– Voltage levels have decreased 100
C S(1F)
(below 1V is being the norm).
smax
V
– Conseq: The
, signal charge
stored on the
capa has dropped.
DD
10
,Stime, higher
– At the sameV
integration C
more noise.
,generates
V DD (V)
S
– Word to bit Q
coupling was
Q S = C S V DD / 2
,line
D
already an C
issue in 80s: closer
V smax = Q S / (C S + C D )
line spacing……
4K 64K 1M 16M 256M 4G 64G
– Also higher speed: increased
switching noise for every new
Memory Capacity (bits / chip)
generation
CD Vsmax, Qs and Cs are: bit line cap,
From [Itoh01]
Sense signal, cell charge and cell cap
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
35
Noise Sources in 1T DRam
• Source of noises:
– Word-line-to bit-line coupling: When wl selected, charge is injected into
the bit line due to Cwbl
– Bit-line-to-bit line coupling: BL run side by side.
– Leakage: cause voltage drop due to p-n junction and subthreshold.
– Soft errors caused by alpha particle and
substrate Adjacent BL
BL
• Solutions:
CWBL
a -particles
– Smart design turning
noise into a common
WL
mode signal,
– Design Techniques for
leakage
reduced leakage.
CS
– Errors corrected through
electrode
redundancy and error
correction encoding +
protection against alpha
Ccross
radiation
36
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Open Bit-line Architecture —Cross Coupling
EQ
WL 1
WL 0
WL
C WBL D
C WBL
WL D
WL 1
WL 0
BL
BL
C BL
C
C
C
Sense
Amplifier
C BL
C
C
C
• When word line is driven high (WL0), the presence of a coupling capacitor
CWBL will cause charge redistribution to occur with amplitude:
DWL  CWBL /(CWBL  CBL )
• If both sides of the memory array were completely symmetrical, the injected
bit line noise would appear as a common mode signal to the sense ampli.
• Unfortunately this is not the case because both coupling and bit line
capacitance can vary substantially over the array
37
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Folded-Bitline Architecture
WL 1
WL 0 C
WBL
WL 0
WL D
WL D
CBL
BL
…
BL
WL 1
C
x
C
C
C
C
C
Sense
EQ Amplifier
x
CBL
y
y
CWBL
• Folded architecture: Placing the sense amplifier at the end of the array and
having BL and BL’ routed next to each other ensures a much closer
matching between: parasitic and bit line cap.
• WL0 and WLD, cross both bit lines and at close ranges.
• Cross coupling noise appears as a common mode signal to the sense ampl.
• Drawback: Longer bit line, and hence increased capacitance.
38
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Bit-Line to Bit-Line Coupling
• The impact of interwire cross coupling increases with reduced
dimensions.
• Noise sensitive lines run side by side for long distances.
• Both BL and BL’ are coupled to adjacent lines through Cross.
• In the worst case, the signal swing observed at the sense amplifier can
be reduced by:
DVcross  2
Ccross
 Vswing
Ccross  C BL
• Up to ¼ of the already weak signal can be lost to this interference.
• The question is: Can we turn this noise into a common mode signal?
In other words can we make this disturbance affect equally BL and
BL’?
• Answer: Yes, by dividing the bit lines into segments that are connected
in a cross coupled fashion: Transposed bit line architecture ../..
39
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Transposed-Bitline Architecture
Ccross
BL 9
BL
SA
BL
BL 99
(a) Straightforward bit-line routing
Ccross
BL 9
BL
SA
BL
BL 99
(b) Transposed bit-line architecture
40
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Alpha particles (or Neutrons)
• Early memory designers were puzzled by the occurrence of soft
errors (non-recurrent and non permanent errors).
• Not explained by either supply noise, leakage or cross coupling
(can cause a computer system to crash).
• May and woods (May97) identified the source as being alpha
particles:
– Alpha particles (two protons, two neutrons) are emitted for
radioactive elements. Traces of such elements are found in
device packaging materials.
– Alpha particles can travel up to 10 um deep in the silicon
generating roughly 2M e-hole pairs in the structure.
– Soft error occur when the trajectory of one of these particles
strikes the storage node of the memory.
41
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Alpha-particles (or Neutrons)
WL
a -particle
V DD
BL
n1
SiO 2
2
1
2
1
1
2
2
1
2
1
1
2
1 Particle ~ 1 Million Carriers
• Electrons and holes generated by a striking particle diffuse
through the substrate.
• Electrons that reach the edge of the depletion region before
recombining are swept into the storage node by electrical field.
• If enough electrons are collected a “1” stored can change to “0”
42
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Alpha particles
• The occurrence of soft errors can be reduced by keeping
the cell charge larger that a critical charge Qc.
• Ex: Cap of 50fF charged to a voltage to 3.5V holds 1.1Me. A
single Alpha particle with a collection efficiency of 55% can
erase the complete charge.
• That’s the reason why the cell capacitance of even the
densest memory is kept to 30fF.
• Chip coating and purification of materials is also used to
purify the materials in order to reduce the number of alpha
particles.
• Memory die can also be covered by polymide to protect
against alpha radiation.
43
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Yield
• With increasing die
size and integration
density, a reduction
in yield is to be
expected.
• Memory designers
use two techniques
to combat low yield:
– Redundancy
– Error correction
Yield curves at different stages of process maturity
(from [Veendrick92])
44
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Redundancy
Row
Address
Redundant
rows
:
Fuse
Bank
Redundant
columns
Memory
Array
Column Decoder
Column
Address
Row Decoder
• As the structure is regular, redundant hardware is easily realized
• Defective bit lines in a memory can therefore be replaced by
redundant ones, and the same hold for the word lines.
• Can be achieved by programming a fuse bank once defaults
have been detected.
45
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Error-Correcting Codes
Example: Hamming Codes
e.g. B3 Wrong
with
1
1
=3
0
• Adding for example a parity bit to a data word can allow to
detect an error (but cannot correct it).
• Using hamming code can allow to detect and correct the error: B
are the stored bits and P are the parity bits.
46
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Redundancy and Error Correction
With over 1000
failing cells a yield
of 100 % is still
achievable.
• Error correction not only combats technology related faults but
is also effective in dealing with soft errors.
• Error correction and redundancy address different angles of
memory yield.
• Combining the two gives very good results [Kalter90]
47
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Sources of Power Dissipation in
Memories
V DD
Dynamic Current
I DD= Sum C iD V if+Sum I DCP
CHIP
nC DE V INT f
mi act
I DCP
m.iact + m.(n-1).ihld
n
ROW
DEC
PERIPHERY
IDD= Iarray + Idecode +Iperiphery
m
selected
C PT V INT f
m(n - 1)i hld
non-selected
ARRAY
mC DE V INT f
COLUMN DEC
V SS
48
DC Current
From [Itoh00]
[(n+m).CDE .V.f]
[CPT .V. f + IDCP]
• Power dominated by array
• Power is proportional to
memory size (n,m).
• Dividing the memory into
subarrays with n,m small
will reduce power.
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Reducing power in Memories
• Partitioning the memory: Memory units in stand-by mode
only consumes power necessary for data retention.
• Partitioning is achieved by dividing the word line into subword lines that are enabled only when necessary.
• Partitioning can also be applied to the bit line in order to
reduce the capacitance switched.
• Reduce the voltage swing as much as possible typ 0.1-0.3V
• Current flow through the BL as long as WL is ON. Reduce
the time during which WL is ON.
• Self-timing strategy can help in reducing the ON time.
• For write operation a full swing is applied on BL (the only
solution is to reduce Vdd).
• Reducing supply can affect the speed: reducing Vth might
be more suitable if the leakage is appropriately dealt with
49
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Data Retention in SRAM
• In theory, an SRAM should not have any static power dissipation
(ihold) yet leakage current of the cell is becoming a major issue
1.30u
1.10u
0.13 m m CMOS
Ileakage
900n
700n
(A)500n
Factor 7
300n
0.18 m m CMOS
100n
0.00
.600
1.20
1.80
VDD
SRAM leakage increases with technology scaling
50
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Suppressing Leakage in SRAM
As low as
100 mV
V DD
V DD
low-threshold transistor
V DDL
sleep
V DD,int
sleep
V DD,int
SRAM
cell
SRAM
cell
sleep
SRAM
cell
SRAM
cell
SRAM
cell
V SS,int
Inserting Extra Resistance
51
SRAM
cell
Reducing the supply voltage
during data retention mode
(refer to previous slide)
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Data Retention in DRAM
Active current
Data retention current
Considerably increasing
(smaller cell and lower
Power frequent refresh
Is required for newer gen).
52
From [Itoh00]
DRAM have to be refreshed
continuously in data retention
mode. Standby current is the a
function of refreshment freq.
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Register Files
• Register files are generally fast RAMs with multiple
read and write ports. Conventional RAM cells may
be made multiported by adding pass transistors
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ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
FIFOs
• A First In First Out (FIFO) is useful for buffering data
between two asynchronous data streams
54
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
FIFOs
• The simplest implementation of a FIFO uses a dual
port RAM or register file with a read and write
counter
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ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
LIFOs
• Last In First Out (LIFO) memory, or push down stack,
is of use in such applications as subroutine stacks
in microcontrollers.
• Like FIFO, regular RAMs or register files may be
used or special distributed row decoders may be
designed as the address pointer moves sequentially
from row to row.
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ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
SIPOs
• Serial In Parallel Output (SIPO) is of use to convert
serial data to a parallel form. Mostly used in signalprocessing applications.
• An example of the memory cell used in this type of
memory is shown below
57
•Data is shifted in at a high rate via the complementary
clock clk and -clk, which should be non-overlapping to
prevent data feedthrough. Data may be read in parallel
through access transistor N1 with an appropriately timed
clock pulse.
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Serial-Access Memory
• Serial-access memories (shift registers) are also of
use in signal-processing applications for storage
and delaying signals. A serial-access memory may
be simulated by a RAM, and probably for most
applications this provides the smallest
implementation because the CMOS static RAM cell
is a very area efficient structure
• However, RAM has a lot overhead: row and column
decoders, sense amplifier and in the case of serial
access memory, a counter. Therefore, sometimes a
dedicated shift register memory may be appropriate.
• The following shows how a 64-byte tapped delay line
that might be used in a video processing system is
implemented
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ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
• Blocks of byte-wide shift registers are delayed by 32, 16,
8,4,2 and 1 cycles, and multiplexers control the passaround of the delay blocks to yield the appropriate delay
amount. Each memory is a shift register.
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ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Case Studies
• SRAM
• Flash Memory
60
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
4 Mbit SRAM
Hierarchical Word-line Architecture
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ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
4 Mbit SRAM
Hierarchical Word-line Architecture
Hierarchical word decoding scheme: Instead of broadcasting the decoded X
address to all blocks in polysilicon, it is distributed in metal and called the
global word line.
The local word line is confined to a single block and is only activated when
that particular block is selected by using the block address.
Only 16 sense amplifiers are used per block of 128 columns.
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ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Bit-line Circuitry
Block
select
Bit-line
load
Limits the bit
line swing and
speed up the
Next prechar
ATD
BEQ
Local WL
Memory cell
B /T
B /T
CD
CD
CD
I/O
I/O line
I/O
Sense amplifier
CD: Column decoder address.
Memory cell is a 4T cell realized using multi-poly process, R=10TΩ
The process starts by an equalization pulse.
All timing is generated through an ATD circuit.
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
63
Sense Amplifier (and Waveforms)
I /O
I /O
Address
SEQ
Block
select
ATD
ATD
BS
SA
BS
BEQ
SA
SEQ
Vdd
I/O Lines
GND
SEQ
SEQ
SEQ
SEQ
DATA
Dei
BS
Sense Amplifier contains two stages:
1st stage: Cross-coupled stage provides min
gain and acts as a level shifter for the 2nd stage
2nd stage: current mirror type operating at max
gain point + push pull output.
64
Vdd
SA, SA
GND
DATA
Data-cut
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
1 Gbit Flash Memory
• Two blocks of 512Mb each.
• BL of 32 bits/blocks.
• Each line connects 1024 of
these blocks.
• The word lines are driven
from both sides
• Page size (number of bits
that can be read in one cycle)
is 2KByte.
•The large page size allows
high programming rate 10
MByte/s.
• Further speed-up is
obtained through an extra
cache memory: New data can
be read while the previous
data is being written or
verified (cache).
65
From [Nakamura02]
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8
Charge pump
2kB Page buffer & cache
10.7mm
125mm2 1Gbit NAND Flash Memory
32 word lines
x 1024 blocks
16896 bit lines
•
Technology
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1poly, 1polycide, 1W, 2Al
Cell size
0.077m2
Chip size
125.2mm2
Organization 2112 x 8b x 64 page x 1k block
Power supply 2.7V-3.6V
Cycle time
50ns
Read time
25s
Program time 200s / page
Erase time
2ms / block
0.13m p-sub CMOS triple-well
11.7mm
66
From [Nakamura02]
ELEC516/10 Lecture 8