Increasing static noise margin of single-bit-line SRAM by lowering bit-line voltage during reading

概要

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A 64-kb SRAM circuit with a single bit line (BL) for reading and with two BLs for writing was designed. Single-BL reading is achieved by using a left access transistor and a left shared reading port. We designed the cell layout and confirmed that there is no area penalty for producing two word lines in a memory cell. An analysis of butterfly plots clearly confirms that the single-BL SRAM has the larger static noise margin than the two-BL one. It is confirmed that the static noise margin in the single-BL SRAM is further increased when the BL is precharged to not VDD but to the lower value in the range of VDD/2 to 3VDD/4. In addition, a new sense amplifier circuit without reference voltage is proposed for single-BL reading. We also propose a divided word line architecture for writing to maintain the static noise margin for unwritten blocks. © 2011 IEEE.