DocumentCode :
1350852
Title :
An SRAM Reliability Test Macro for Fully Automated Statistical Measurements of {\\rm V} _{\\rm MIN} Degradation
Author :
Kim, Tony Tae-Hyoung ; Zhang, Wei ; Kim, Chris H.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of ECE, Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Volume :
59
Issue :
3
fYear :
2012
fDate :
3/1/2012 12:00:00 AM
Firstpage :
584
Lastpage :
593
Abstract :
Negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) has been considered as a main reliability issue in SRAMs since the threshold voltage degradation of PMOS transistors due to NBTI has raised minimum operating voltage (VMIN) over time. This paper explains an SRAM reliability test macro designed in a 1.2 V, 65 nm CMOS process technology for statistical measurements of VMIN degradation coming from NBTI. An automated test program efficiently collects statistical VMIN data and reduces test time. The proposed test structure enables VMIN degradation measurements for different SRAM failure modes such as the SNM-limited case and the access-time-limited case. The VMIN dependency on initial device mismatch and stored data is also presented. The measured time to cell data flip affected by NBTI shows the similar trend of NBTI following a power-law dependency on stress time.
Keywords :
CMOS memory circuits; MOSFET; SRAM chips; integrated circuit measurement; integrated circuit reliability; integrated circuit testing; statistical analysis; CMOS process technology; NBTI; PMOS transistors; SRAM failure modes; SRAM reliability test macro; automated test program; device mismatch; fully automated statistical measurements; negative bias temperature instability; power-law dependency; size 65 nm; test structure; threshold voltage degradation; voltage 1.2 V; Degradation; MOS devices; Random access memory; Reliability; Stress; Threshold voltage; Voltage measurement; Circuit reliability; minimum operating voltage (${rm V} _{rm MIN}$); negative bias temperature instability (NBTI); static random access memory (SRAM);
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, IEEE Transactions on
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
1549-8328
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/TCSI.2011.2167264
Filename :
6046104
Link To Document :
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