Regular Papers

HDD-RAM: A 40-nm 0.35 V 25 MHz Half-Select Disturb-Free Memory With Data-Aware 10T SRAM

  • YIFEI LI 1 ,
  • JIAN CHEN 1 ,
  • YUQI WANG 2 ,
  • WENFENG ZHAO 3 ,
  • YUHAO SHU , 4 ,
  • YAJUN HA , 1, 5
Expand
  • 1 School of Information Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210
  • 2 China Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
  • 3 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Binghamton University, State University of New York (SUNY), Binghamton, NY 13902
  • 4 USA College of Integrated Circuits, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
  • 5 Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Energy Efficient and Custom AI IC, Shanghai 200062, China
YUHAO SHU (e-mail: );
YAJUN HA (e-mail: ).

YIFEI LI (Graduate Student Member, IEEE),

YUQI WANG (Graduate Student Member, IEEE),

WENFENG ZHAO (Member, IEEE),

YUHAO SHU (Member, IEEE),

YAJUN HA (Senior Member, IEEE)

Received date: 2025-03-18

  Revised date: 2025-04-19

  Accepted date: 2025-04-22

  Online published: 2025-12-24

Supported by

National Natural Science Foundation of China(62150710549)

National Natural Science Foundation of China(U2441247)

Abstract

Ultra-low-voltage SRAM is an indispensable component that is increasingly adopted in energyefficient computing systems. However, it comes at the cost of increased sensitivity to soft errors. To address this issue, bit-interleaving SRAM is widely used to mitigate soft errors. But it suffers from half-select disturbance. Previous works address such disturbance by using a dedicated write port or enhanced write assist scheme. However, these works may decrease write margin, induce high cell-level write latency, or incur architecture-level time/timing overhead. In this paper, we develop a high-speed bit-interleaving half-select disturb-free memory with data-aware 10T SRAM. First, we present an isolated and decoupled topology with dedicated write control to improve stability. Second, we present a data-aware write path with enhanced write-ability that effectively reduces the write access time. A 40-nm 4-Kb test chip has been fabricated to validate the optimizations above. Measurement results show that our half-select disturb-free test chip achieves a peak operating frequency of 25 MHz and an energy consumption of 0.168 fJ/bit with a supply voltage of 0.35 V. Compared with the state-of-the-art designs, it has achieved a speed up of 2.72× and an energy saving of 93.8%.

Cite this article

YIFEI LI , JIAN CHEN , YUQI WANG , WENFENG ZHAO , YUHAO SHU , YAJUN HA . HDD-RAM: A 40-nm 0.35 V 25 MHz Half-Select Disturb-Free Memory With Data-Aware 10T SRAM[J]. Integrated Circuits and Systems, 2025 , 2(4) : 205 -216 . DOI: 10.23919/ICS.2025.3565481

[1]
L. V. Brandt et al., “Modeling and predicting noise-induced failure rates in ultra-low-voltage SRAM bitcells affected by process variations,” IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I, Reg. Papers, vol. 72, no. 3, pp. 989-1002, Mar. 2025.

[2]
B. Vanhoof and W. Dehaene, “A 1 MHz 256 kb ultra low power memory macro for biomedical recording applications in 22 nm FD-SOI using FECC to enable data retention down to 170 mV supply voltage,” IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I, Reg. Papers, vol. 71, no. 1, pp. 299-305,

[3]
Z. Guo, D. Kim, S. Nalam, J. Wiedemer, X. Wang, and E. Karl, “A 23.6-Mb/mm 2 SRAM in 10-nm FinFET technology with pulsed-pMOS TVC and stepped-WL for low-voltage applications,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 210-216, Jan. 2019.

[4]
Y. Han, X. Cheng,J. Han, and X. Zeng, “Radiation-hardened 0.3-0.9-V voltage-scalable 14T SRAM and peripheral circuit in 28-nm technology for space applications,” IEEE Trans. Very Large Scale Integr. Syst., vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 1089-1093, Apr. 2020.

[5]
M. E. Sinangil, Y.-T. Lin,H. J. Liao, and J. Chang, “A 290MV ultra-low voltage one-port SRAM compiler design using a 12T write contention and read upset free Bit-cell in 7NM FinFET technology,” in Proc. IEEE Symp. VLSI Circuits, 2018, pp. 13-14.

[6]
M. Clinton et al., “12.3 A low-power and high-performance 10nm SRAM architecture for mobile applications,” in Proc. IEEE Int. SolidState Circuits Conf., 2017, pp. 210-211.

[7]
R. V. Joshi, M. M. Ziegler,K. Swaminathan, and N. Chandramoorthy, “Cascaded and resonant SRAM supply boosting for ultra-low voltage cognitive IoT applications,” in Proc. IEEE Custom Integr. Circuits Conf., 2018, pp. 1-4.

[8]
H. Fuketa, M. Hashimoto,Y. Mitsuyama, and T. Onoye, “Neutroninduced soft errors and multiple cell upsets in 65-nm 10T subthreshold SRAM,” IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 2097-2102, Aug. 2011.

[9]
M. Hashimoto and W. Liao, “Soft error and its countermeasures in terrestrial environment,” in Proc. 25th Asia South Pacific Des. Automat. Conf., 2020, pp. 617-622.

[10]
D. Takashima, M. Endo, K. Shimazaki,M. Sai, and M. Tanino, “A 7T-SRAM with data-write technique by capacitive coupling,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 596-605, Feb. 2019.

[11]
Z. Guo, A. Carlson, L.-T. Pang, K. T. Duong,T.-J. K. Liu, and B. Nikolic, “Large-scale SRAM variability characterization in 45 nm CMOS,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 44, no. 11, pp. 3174-3192, Nov. 2009.

[12]
B. H. Calhoun and A. P. Chandrakasan, “A 256-kb 65-nm sub-threshold SRAM design for ultra-low-voltage operation,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 680-688, Mar. 2007.

[13]
D. A. G. Gonçalves de Oliveira,L. L. Pilla, T. Santini, and P. Rech, “Evaluation and mitigation of radiation-induced soft errors in graphics processing units,” IEEE Trans. Comput., vol. 65, no. 3, pp. 791-804, Mar. 2016.

[14]
A. Alacchi, E. Giacomin, S. Temple, R. Gauchi,M. Wirthlin, and P.-E. Gaillardon, “Low latency SEU detection in FPGA CRAM with in-memory ECC checking,” IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I, Reg. Papers, vol. 70, no. 5, pp. 2028-2036, Mar. 2023.

[15]
B. Zimmer, P.-F. Chiu,B. Nikolic´ and K. Asanovic´ “Reprogrammable redundancy for SRAM-based cache Vmin reduction in a 28-nm RISC-V processor,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 52, no. 10, pp. 2589-2600, Oct. 2017.

[16]
I. J. Chang, J.-J. Kim, S. P. Park, and K. Roy, “A 32 kb 10T sub-threshold SRAM array with Bit-interleaving and differential read scheme in 90 nm CMOS,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 650-658, Feb. 2009.

[17]
Y. Han et al., “Radiation hardened 12T SRAM with crossbar-based peripheral circuit in 28nm CMOS technology,” IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I, Reg. Papers, vol. 68, no. 7, pp. 2962-2975, Jul. 2021.

[18]
Y.-W. Chiu et al., “40 nm Bit-interleaving 12T subthreshold SRAM with data-aware write-assist,” IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I, Reg. Papers, vol. 61, no. 9, pp. 2578-2585, Sep. 2014.

[19]
J. Sun, H. Guo,G. Li, and H. Jiao, “An ultra-low-voltage bit-interleaved synthesizable 13T SRAM circuit,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 57, no. 11, pp. 3477-3489, Nov. 2022.

[20]
Y. He, J. Zhang, X. Wu, X. Si,S. Zhen, and B. Zhang, “A half-select disturb-free 11T SRAM cell with built-in write/read-assist scheme for ultralow-voltage operations,” IEEE Trans. Very Large Scale Integr. Syst., vol. 27, no. 10, pp. 2344-2353, Oct. 2019.

[21]
M.-F. Chang et al., “A compact-area low-VDDmin 6T SRAM with improvement in cell stability, read speed, and write margin using a dual-split-control-assist scheme,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 52, no. 9, pp. 2498-2514, Sep. 2017.

[22]
M. S. M. Siddiqui,Z. C. Lee, and T. T.-H. Kim, “A 16-kb 9T ultralow-voltage SRAM with column-based split cell-VSS, data-aware write-assist, and enhanced read sensing margin in 28-nm FDSOI,” IEEE Trans. Very Large Scale Integr. Syst., vol. 29, no. 10, pp. 1707-1719, Oct. 2021.

[23]
L. Lu, T. Yoo,V. L. Le, and T. T.-H. Kim, “A 0.506-pJ 16-kb 8T SRAM with vertical read wordlines and selective dual split power lines,” IEEE Trans. Very Large Scale Integr. Syst., vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 1345-1356, Jun. 2020.

[24]
M.-H. Tu et al., “A single-ended disturb-free 9T subthreshold SRAM with cross-point data-aware write word-line structure, negative Bit-line, and adaptive read operation timing tracing,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 1469-1482, Jun. 2012.

[25]
M. Karamimanesh, E. Abiri, K. Hassanli,M. R. Salehi, and A. Darabi, “A write bit-line free sub-threshold SRAM cell with fully half-select free feature and high reliability for ultra-low power applications,” AEUInt. J. Electron. Commun., vol. 145, 2022, Art. no. 154075.

[26]
K. Shin,W. Choi, and J. Park, “Half-select free and Bit-line sharing 9T SRAM for reliable supply voltage scaling,” IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I, Reg. Papers, vol. 64, no. 8, pp. 2036-2048, Aug. 2017.

[27]
M.-H. Chang,Y.-T. Chiu, and W. Hwang, “Design and ISO-area Vmin analysis of 9T subthreshold SRAM with bit-interleaving scheme in 65nm CMOS,” IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. II, Exp. Briefs, vol. 59, no. 7, pp. 429-433, Jul. 2012.

[28]
T. W. Oh, H. Jeong, K. Kang, J. Park,Y. Yang, and S.-O. Jung, “Powergated 9T SRAM cell for low-energy operation,” IEEE Trans. Very Large Scale Integr. Syst., vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 1183-1187, Mar. 2017.

[29]
G. Pasandi and M. Pedram, “Internal write-back and read-beforewrite schemes to eliminate the disturbance to the half-selected cells in SRAMs,” IET Circuits, Devices Syst., vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 460-466, 2018.

[30]
E. Abbasian and S. Sofimowloodi, “Energy-efficient single-ended read/write 10T near-threshold SRAM,” IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I, Reg. Papers, vol. 70, no. 5, pp. 2037-2047, May 2023.

[31]
E. Mani, E. Abbasian,M. Gunasegeran, and S. Sofimowloodi, “Design of high stability, low power and high speed 12T SRAM cell in 32-nm CNTFET technology,” AEU Int. J. Electron. Commun., vol. 154, 2022, Art. no. 154308.

[32]
N. Pinckney,D. Blaauw, and D. Sylvester, “Low-power near-threshold design: Techniques to improve energy efficiency energy-efficient nearthreshold design has been proposed to increase energy efficiency across a wid,” IEEE Solid-State Circuits Mag., vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 49-57, Spring 2015.

[33]
J. M. Rabaey, A. Chandrakasan, and B. Nikolic, Digital Integrated CircuitsA Design Perspective, 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Prentice Hall, 2004.

[34]
S. Ahmad, M. K. Gupta,N. Alam, and M. Hasan, “Single-ended Schmitt-trigger-based robust low-power SRAM cell,” IEEE Trans. Very Large Scale Integr. Syst., vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 2634-2642, Aug. 2016.

[35]
M. Sharifkhani and M. Sachdev, “SRAM cell stability: A dynamic perspective,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 609-619, Feb. 2009.

[36]
E. I. Vatajelu, A. Gómez-Pau,M. Renovell, and J. Figueras, “Transient noise failures in SRAM cells: Dynamic noise margin metric,” in Proc. Asian Test Symp., 2011, pp. 413-418.

[37]
J. Lohstroh,E. Seevinck, and J. de Groot, “Worst-case static noise margin criteria for logic circuits and their mathematical equivalence,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 803-807, Dec. 1983.

[38]
E. Seevinck,F. List, and J. Lohstroh, “Static-noise margin analysis of MOS SRAM cells,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 748-754, Oct. 1987.

[39]
J. Wang, S. Nalam, and B. H. Calhoun, “Analyzing static and dynamic write margin for nanometer SRAMs,” in Proc. 13th Int. Symp. Low Power Electron. Des., 2008, pp. 129-134.

[40]
M. Nabavi and M. Sachdev, “A 290-mV, 3.34-MHz, 6T SRAM With pMOS access transistors and boosted wordline in 65-nm CMOS technology,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 656-667, Feb. 2018.

[41]
S. Gupta,D. S. Truesdell, and B. H. Calhoun, “A 65nm 16kb SRAM with 131.5pW leakage at 0.9V for wireless IoT sensor nodes,” in Proc. IEEE Symp. VLSI Circuits, 2020, pp. 1-2.

Outlines

/