Highly robust and sensitive charge transfer sense amplifier for ultra-low voltage DRAMs

Choongkeun Lee, Hongil Yoon

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A new charge transfer sense amplifier for low voltage DRAMs is proposed. The proposed charge transfer sense amplifier has two features. One is the double boosting sensing node structure, and the other is the dynamic presensing latch. The double boosting sensing node structure consists of two boosting capacitors. The 1st and 2nd boosting capacitors are placed at the boosting nodes and sensing nodes, respectively. The sensing node and boosting node are connected by a PMOS diode-connected transistor. This structure is efficient in achieving high sensitivity in ultra-low supply voltage conditions. The dynamic presensing latch is placed at the sensing nodes between the bit-line pair. The sensing node voltage difference (ΔVSA) develops by the operation of the dynamic presensing latch. Pull-down/up latch works effectively because ΔVSA is larger than bit-line voltage difference. With a 0.5V power supply voltage using a NCSU 45nm process, the proposed charge transfer sense amplifier brings a significant increase of about 3.89 times in ΔVSA and a decrease of 22.3% in the sensing delay time compared with the characteristics obtained by the best-known prior scheme.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 5th Asia Symposium on Quality Electronic Design, ASQED 2013
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages227-232
Number of pages6
ISBN (Print)9781479913145
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013
Event5th Asia Symposium on Quality Electronic Design, ASQED 2013 - Penang, Malaysia
Duration: 2013 Aug 262013 Aug 28

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 5th Asia Symposium on Quality Electronic Design, ASQED 2013

Other

Other5th Asia Symposium on Quality Electronic Design, ASQED 2013
Country/TerritoryMalaysia
CityPenang
Period13/8/2613/8/28

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality

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