Title :
A new current-mode sense amplifier for low-voltage low-power SRAM
Author :
Wang, Jinn-Shyan ; Lee, Hong-Yu
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Nat. Chung Cheng Univ., Chia-Yi, Taiwan
Abstract :
A new current-mode sense amplifier is proposed and it can be used in the design of a low-voltage low-power SRAM for ASIC applications. In the new current-mode sense amplifier a modified current-conveyor is used to prevent the pattern dependent problem which is overlooked in the previous designs. Simulation results show the conventional circuits will fail and the new circuit can work if VDD=1.5 V and an industrial 0.35 μm CMOS technology is used. Power consumption of the new circuit with VDD=1.5 V is only 6%~39% of the conventional circuits running at VDD=2.0 V. A 128×8 SRAM using the new circuit for VDD=2.0 V in a 0.6 μm CMOS technology is also designed and successfully applied in an 8-bit low-power microcontroller
Keywords :
CMOS memory circuits; SRAM chips; current conveyors; current-mode circuits; differential amplifiers; low-power electronics; 0.35 micron; 0.6 micron; 1.5 V; ASIC applications; CMOS technology; current-mode sense amplifier; low-power SRAM; low-power microcontroller application; low-voltage SRAM; modified current-conveyor; pattern dependent problem elimination; power consumption; Application specific integrated circuits; CMOS technology; Circuit simulation; Energy consumption; Latches; Power amplifiers; Pulse amplifiers; Random access memory; Very large scale integration; Voltage;
Conference_Titel :
ASIC Conference 1998. Proceedings. Eleventh Annual IEEE International
Conference_Location :
Rochester, NY
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4980-6
DOI :
10.1109/ASIC.1998.722884
