Compiler compatible 5.66 Mb/mm2 8T 1R1W register file in 14 nm FinFET technology

1-read/1-write (1R1W) register file (RF) is a popular memory configuration in modern feature rich SoCs requiring significant amount of embedded memory. A memory compiler is constructed using the 8T RF bitcell spanning a range of instances from 32 b to 72 Kb. An 8T low-leakage bitcell of 0.106 μm² is used in a 14 nm FinFET technology with a 70 nm contacted gate pitch for high-density (HD) two-port (TP) RF memory compiler which achieves 5.66 Mb/mm² array density for a 72 Kb array which is the highest reported density in 14 nm FinFET technology. The density improvement is achieved by using techniques such as leaf-cell optimization (eliminating transistors), better architectural planning, top level connectivity through leaf-cell abutment and minimizing the number of unique leaf-cells. These techniques are fully compatible with memory compiler usage over the required span. Leakage power is minimized by using power-switches without degrading the density mentioned above. Self-induced supply voltage collapse technique is applied for write and a four stack static keeper is used for read Vmin improvement. Fabricated test chips using 14 nm process have demonstrated 2.33 GHz performance at 1.1 V/25 °C operation. Overall V_min of 550 mV is achieved with this design at 25 °C. The inbuilt power-switch improves leakage power by 12x in simulation. Approximately 8% die area of a leading 14 nm SoC in commercialization is occupied by these compiled RF instances.     

Subtle gate oxide defect elimination to improve the reliability of a 32M-bit SRAM product

Tiny defects may escape from in-line defect scan and pass WAT (Wafer Acceptance Test), CP (Chip Probing), FT (Final Test) and SLT (System Level Test). Chips with such kind of defects will cause reliability problem and impact revenue significantly. It is important to catch the defects and derive the prevention strategy earlier in the technology development stage. In this paper, we investigate an SRAM with tiny defects which passed in-line defect scan, WAT, CP and FT but failed in HTOL (High Temperature Operation Life) test, one of the product reliability qualification items. FA (Failure Analysis) reveals gate oxide missing defect is the root cause. The goal is to pass reliability qualification and release product into production on schedule. The failure mechanism, optimization of gate oxide process, enhancement of defect scan and testing methodology will be introduced. Experiment results show very good HTOL performance by the combination of process and testing optimization.     

北京正负电子对撞机次级束质子单粒子翻转计算和试验研究

北京正负电子对撞机(BEPC)电子直线加速器试验束打靶产生的次级束中包含质子,其中能量约为50MeV~100MeV的质子占有很大比例,这弥补了国内高能质子源的空白。本工作计算得到次级束中的质子能谱,建立质子单粒子翻转截面计算方法,在北京正负电子对撞机次级束质子辐射环境中,计算静态随机存取存储器的质子单粒子翻转截面,设计了SRAM质子单粒子翻转截面测试试验,发现SRAM单粒子翻转和注量有良好的线性,这是SRAM发生单粒子翻转的证据。统计得到不同特征尺寸下SRAM单粒子翻转截面,试验数据与计算结果相符,计算和试验结果表明随着器件特征尺寸的减小器件位单粒子翻转截面减小,但器件容量的增大,翻转截面依然增大,BEPC次级束中的质子束可以开展中高能质子单粒子效应测试。     

一种新式SEU加固PD SOI SRAM单元

本文提出了一种新式SEU加固的10管PD SOI静态存储单元。通过将互锁反相器中的上拉和下拉管分割成两个串联的晶体管,该单元可有效抑制PD SOI晶体管中的寄生BJT和源漏穿通电荷收集效应,这两种电荷收集效应是引起PD SOISRAM翻转的主要原因。通过混合仿真发现,与穿通的浮体6T单元相比,该单元可完全解决粒子入射单个晶体管引起的单粒子翻转。通过分析该新式单元的翻转机制,认为其SEU性能近似与6T SOI SRAM的单粒子多位翻转性能相等。根据参考文献的测试数据,粗略估计该新式单元的SEU性能比普通45nm 6T SOI SRAM单元提升了17倍。由于新增加了四个晶体管,该单元在面积上增加了43.4%的开销,性能方面有所降低。     

基于CPLD的TFT-LCD控制器的设计

文章介绍了一种基于CPLD的TFT-LCD控制器的设计和实现方法。增加片外SRAM,以提供显示缓存。并使用CPLD实现两大主要功能,一是产生TFT-LCD要求的时序信号,二是协调TFT-LCD和MCU对SRAM的读写访问。相对于常见的TFT-LCD控制器,该设计方法优势明显:结构简单,并且性价比高,驱动小尺寸TFT屏时具有较高应用价值。     

基于仲裁器PUF的SRAM FPGA防克隆技术设计与实现

为保护电子设备中使用的静态随机存储器(SRAM)型现场可编程门阵列(FPGA)内部电路设计不被窃取,设计了用于SRAM FPGA的防克隆电路.该电路利用FPGA制造过程中的随机误差,提取每块芯片独一无二的ID.在此ID的控制下,被保护电路只能在指定的FPGA中正常运行,而在未指定的FPGA中运行时,无法产生正确的输出,从而达到防克隆目的.防克隆电路由使用仲裁器的物理不可克隆函数(PUF)、多数表决器、运算门阵列等三部分构成,其中仲裁器PUF电路用于提取ID,多数表决器起到提高输出稳定性的作用.最后在FPGA开发平台上证明了该电路的可行性.     

A novel stability and process sensitivity driven model for optimal sized FinFET based SRAM

Technology enhancement has increased sensitivity of process variations of scaled SRAM on the verge of instability. This demands a process variation (PV) aware stability model for the modern SRAM. This paper first analyzes PV severity on readability, writability and static leakage current and provides a statistical model. The paper further improves the proposed model by using curve fitting method for stability modeling and modified Least Mean Square with first order differentiation to extract best fitting parameters. The resulting model exhibits characteristics of standard current voltage equation based model. A evolutionary optimization technique is proposed to achieve optimal cell dimension for process tolerant SRAM. The resulting SRAM is tested for worst case stability analysis using Gaussian distribution based statistical approach. Simulation results show that the resulting optimized SRAM improves read, standby and word line write margins by 4%, 4% and 23%, respectively.     

Impacts of test factors on heavy ion single event multiple-cell upsets in nanometer-scale SRAM

Single event multiple-cell upsets (MCU) increase sharply with the semiconductor devices scaling. The impacts of several test factors on heavy ion single event MCU in 65 nm SRAM are studied based on the buildup of MCU test data acquiring and processing technique, including the heavy ion LET, the tilt angle, the device orientation, the test pattern and the supply voltage; the MCU physical bitmaps are extracted correspondingly. The dependencies of parameters such as the MCU percentage, MCU mean and topological pattern on these factors are summarized and analyzed. This work is meaningful for developing a more reasonable single event test method and assessing the effectiveness of anti-MCU strategies on nanometer-scale devices.     

SRAM dynamic stability estimation using MPFP and its applications

In this paper, an accurate approach for estimating the dynamic stability of static random access memory (SRAM) is proposed. The conventional methods of SRAM stability estimation suffer from two major drawbacks: (1) using static failure criteria, such as SNM, which does not capture the transient and dynamic behavior of SRAM operation, and (2) using quasi-Monte-Carlo simulation, which approximates the failure distribution, resulting in large errors at the tails where the desired failure probabilities exist. These drawbacks are eliminated by employing accurate simulation-based dynamic failure criteria along with a new distribution-independent, Most-probable-failure-point search technique for accurate probability calculation. Compared to previously published techniques, the proposed dynamic stability technique offers orders of magnitude improvement in accuracy. Furthermore, the proposed dynamic stability technique enables the correct evaluation of stability in real operation conditions and for different dynamic circuit techniques, such as dynamic write back, where the conventional methods are not applicable.     

特征工艺尺寸对CMOS SRAM抗单粒子翻转性能的影响

采用TCAD工艺模拟工具按照等比例缩小规则构建了从亚微米到超深亚微米级7种不同特征尺寸的MOS晶体管,计算了由这些晶体管组成的静态随机存储器(SRAM)单粒子翻转的临界电荷Qcrit、LET阈值(LETth),建立了LETth与临界电荷之间的解析关系,研究了特征工艺尺寸对CMOS SRAM抗单粒子翻转性能的影响及原因。研究表明:随着特征尺寸的减小,SRAM单元单粒子翻转的临界电荷减小,电荷收集效率由于寄生双极晶体管效应而增加,造成LETth随特征尺寸缩小而迅速减小,CMOS SRAM抗单粒子翻转性能迅速降低。