DocumentCode :
2481494
Title :
A novel variation-tolerant 4T-DRAM cell with enhanced soft-error tolerance
Author :
Ganapathy, Shrikanth ; Canal, Ramon ; Alexandrescu, Dan ; Costenaro, Enrico ; González, Antonio ; Rubio, Antonio
Author_Institution :
Dept. d´´Arquitectura de Computadors, Univ. Politec. de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
fYear :
2012
fDate :
Sept. 30 2012-Oct. 3 2012
Firstpage :
472
Lastpage :
477
Abstract :
In view of device scaling issues, embedded DRAM (eDRAM) technology is being considered as a strong alternative to conventional SRAM for use in on-chip memories. Memory cells designed using eDRAM technology in addition to being logic-compatible, are variation tolerant and immune to noise present at low supply voltages. However, two major causes of concern are the data retention capability which is worsened by parameter variations leading to frequent data refreshes (resulting in large dynamic power overhead) and the transient reduction of stored charge increasing soft-error (SE) susceptibility. In this paper, we present a novel variation-tolerant 4T-DRAM cell whose power consumption is 20.4% lower when compared to a similar sized eDRAM cell. The retention time on-average is improved by 2.04X while incurring a delay overhead of 3% on the read-access time. Most importantly, using a soft-error (SE) rate analysis tool, we have confirmed that the cell sensitivity to SEs is reduced by 56% on-average in a natural working environment.
Keywords :
DRAM chips; SRAM chips; embedded systems; radiation hardening (electronics); SRAM; device scaling issues; eDRAM technology; embedded DRAM; enhanced soft error tolerance; memory cells; on-chip memories; variation-tolerant 4T-DRAM cell; Capacitance; Logic gates; Power demand; Random access memory; System-on-a-chip; Threshold voltage; Transistors;
fLanguage :
English
Publisher :
ieee
Conference_Titel :
Computer Design (ICCD), 2012 IEEE 30th International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Montreal, QC
ISSN :
1063-6404
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-3051-0
Type :
conf
DOI :
10.1109/ICCD.2012.6378681
Filename :
6378681
Link To Document :
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