Class AB technique for high performance switched-current memory cells

A new class AB zero-voltage switched-current memory cell is presented. The circuit is theoretically shown to provide a significant improvement over the conventional class A zero-voltage cell in terms of a figure-of-merit combining speed, signal-to-noise-ratio and power dissipation. It also exhibits a constant settling characteristic and signal-independent charge injection errors, even in single-ended structures, resulting in an inherently highly linear memory cell. The theoretical advantage of this cell is confirmed by simulation which demonstrates a six-fold improvement in the figure-of-merit