Sense amplifier power and delay characterization for operation under low-Vdd and low-voltage clock swing

Two critical aspects of sense amplifiers (SA), power consumption and clock-to-data delay, are studied and presented for operation under low-supply voltage and driven by low-swing clock. Trade-offs and simulation results are given for a 4-stack StrongARM and a 3-stack double-tail SA, showing up to 50% power reduction in the SA itself and 25% in the clock generation circuit, with acceptable delay degradation.