Comparative Assessment of Optical Techniques for Semi-Invasive SRAM Data Read-out on an MSP430 Microcontroller

Author(s):  
Tuba Kiyan ◽  
Heiko Lohrke ◽  
Christian Boit

Abstract This paper compares the three major semi-invasive optical approaches, Photon Emission (PE), Thermal Laser Stimulation (TLS) and Electro-Optical Frequency Mapping (EOFM) for contactless static random access memory (SRAM) content read-out on a commercial microcontroller. Advantages and disadvantages of these techniques are evaluated by applying those techniques on a 1 KB SRAM in an MSP430 microcontroller. It is demonstrated that successful read out depends strongly on the core voltage parameters for each technique. For PE, better SNR and shorter integration time are to be achieved by using the highest nominal core voltage. In TLS measurements, the core voltage needs to be externally applied via a current amplifier with a bias voltage slightly above nominal. EOFM can use nominal core voltages again; however, a modulation needs to be applied. The amplitude of the modulated supply voltage signal has a strong effect on the quality of the signal. Semi-invasive read out of the memory content is necessary in order to remotely understand the organization of memory, which finds applications in hardware and software security evaluation, reverse engineering, defect localization, failure analysis, chip testing and debugging.

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 551
Author(s):  
Zhongjian Bian ◽  
Xiaofeng Hong ◽  
Yanan Guo ◽  
Lirida Naviner ◽  
Wei Ge ◽  
...  

Spintronic based embedded magnetic random access memory (eMRAM) is becoming a foundry validated solution for the next-generation nonvolatile memory applications. The hybrid complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)/magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) integration has been selected as a proper candidate for energy harvesting, area-constraint and energy-efficiency Internet of Things (IoT) systems-on-chips. Multi-VDD (low supply voltage) techniques were adopted to minimize energy dissipation in MRAM, at the cost of reduced writing/sensing speed and margin. Meanwhile, yield can be severely affected due to variations in process parameters. In this work, we conduct a thorough analysis of MRAM sensing margin and yield. We propose a current-mode sensing amplifier (CSA) named 1D high-sensing 1D margin, high 1D speed and 1D stability (HMSS-SA) with reconfigured reference path and pre-charge transistor. Process-voltage-temperature (PVT) aware analysis is performed based on an MTJ compact model and an industrial 28 nm CMOS technology, explicitly considering low-voltage (0.7 V), low tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) (50%) and high temperature (85 °C) scenario as the worst sensing case. A case study takes a brief look at sensing circuits, which is applied to in-memory bit-wise computing. Simulation results indicate that the proposed high-sensing margin, high speed and stability sensing-sensing amplifier (HMSS-SA) achieves remarkable performance up to 2.5 GHz sensing frequency. At 0.65 V supply voltage, it can achieve 1 GHz operation frequency with only 0.3% failure rate.


Author(s):  
Rarika Ravi ◽  
Anu Assis

<p>This paper discusses about different receiver designs adopted so far for various electronic toll collection systems. A comparative analysis based on the discussions is also provided. It shows that each design has it's own advantages and disadvantages compared to others. The main aim of this paper is to identify the most suitable design. The researches shows that the receiver design described in the 5.8GHz digitally controlled DSRC receiver for Chinese electronic toll collection system is the most suitable one. Here all RF, IF blocks and digital baseband for on-chip automatic gain control, are integrated on an RF-SoC. The proposed digitally controlled LNA and mixer circuits are elaborated. The technology used is 0.13μm CMOS technology. The RF block occupies a chip area of 0.75mm2. It consumes 22mA under a 1.5V supply voltage. The bit error rate maintains better than 10-6, the input power level varies from -75dBm to -8dBm. This design provides a receiver sensitivity improvement of at least 25%, and a dynamic range enhancement of at least 12%.</p>


1989 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bauckham

Jürgen Moltmann's first major work, Theology of Hope, first published in 1964, is arguably one of the truly great theological works of the last few decades, and indisputably one of the most influential. Though Moltmann's own theology has developed considerably in many subsequent works since Theology of Hope, it remains one of his greatest achievements, rivalled only by his second major work, The Crucified God. These two books, which constitute the core of Moltmann's early theology, have, it seems to me, a concentrated power of argument, focused on their central integrating ideas, which is lacking in the more diffuse structure and argument of the later works, significant though these are in their own way. The two early books also have a certain polemical extremeness, which, by contrast with the more balanced and rounded quality of the later works, gives them the sort of impact which one also finds in the passionate extremism of the early Luther or the dialectical rhetoric of the early Barth. The comparison is appropriate, not only because the influence of these two predecessors on Moltmann's work is very evident, but also because, in adopting something of their dialectical and prophetic style of theology, Moltmann had a parallel purpose: that of redirecting theological work. If, having accomplished this, Moltmann has subsequently become more and more like the older Barth of the Church Dogmatics, this is understandable and brings both advantages and disadvantages with it.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 1717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Álvaro De-La-Llana-Calvo ◽  
José-Luis Lázaro-Galilea ◽  
Alfredo Gardel-Vicente ◽  
David Rodríguez-Navarro ◽  
Borja Rubiano-Muriel ◽  
...  

There are several technologies and techniques available when developing indoor positioning systems (IPS). Recently, the development of positioning systems based on optical signals has aroused great interest, mainly those using visible light from the lighting infrastructure. In this work, we analyze which techniques give better results to lay the foundations for the development of a Visible Light Positioning system (VLP). Working only with a receiver, it is analyzed what the result of determining the position of different emitters is when they emit simultaneously and without any synchronism. The results obtained by Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) (with digital bandpass filters, I/Q demodulation, and FFT) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) are compared. The interference between signals when emitted simultaneously from multiple emitters is analyzed as well as the errors they cause and how these effects can be mitigated. As a result of the research, the advantages and disadvantages using different multiple-access determination techniques are determined. In addition, advantages and disadvantages of using FDMA and CDMA techniques as well as hardware requirements that make one more feasible than the other are presented. The system behavior, in terms of errors, is established using FDMA and different configurations such as: I/Q, RMS, or FFT. The work also determines the error rates that can be obtained with the different FDMA and CDMA configurations, considering different error scenarios and integration time. Synthetic emulations and empirical tests were performed, which concluded that IPS systems based on optical signals and PSD sensors can achieve very high measurement accuracies and a high measurement rate. Obtained positioning errors in a room of 3 m height are less than 1 cm when working in noisy environments.


Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (23) ◽  
pp. 5547
Author(s):  
Carlos F. G. C. Geraldes

Molecular imaging has rapidly developed to answer the need of image contrast in medical diagnostic imaging to go beyond morphological information to include functional differences in imaged tissues at the cellular and molecular levels. Vibrational (infrared (IR) and Raman) imaging has rapidly emerged among the molecular imaging modalities available, due to its label-free combination of high spatial resolution with chemical specificity. This article presents the physical basis of vibrational spectroscopy and imaging, followed by illustration of their preclinical in vitro applications in body fluids and cells, ex vivo tissues and in vivo small animals and ending with a brief discussion of their clinical translation. After comparing the advantages and disadvantages of IR/Raman imaging with the other main modalities, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography/single-photon emission-computed tomography (PET/SPECT), ultrasound (US) and photoacoustic imaging (PAI), the design of multimodal probes combining vibrational imaging with other modalities is discussed, illustrated by some preclinical proof-of-concept examples.


COSMOS ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 07 (01) ◽  
pp. 25-30
Author(s):  
T. TAHMASEBI ◽  
S. N. PIRAMANAYAGAM

Data storage is one area of technology where nanotechnology has been used even before the term nanotechnology became very popular. The magnetic recording media — the disk that stores information in hard disk drives — used nanotechnology in the late 1990s, in the form of grains which are 15 nm or less in diameter (the grains in current technology are about 8 nm in diameter). The reading sensors of hard disk also make use of thin nanostructures in several dimensions to read information from the recording media. This paper introduces the technology behind the magnetic random access memory and related topics, which form the core of the symposium L of ICMAT 2011, which is titled "Memory, Nanomagnetics, Materials and Devices".


mBio ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanfen Fu ◽  
Lian He ◽  
Jennifer Reeve ◽  
David A. C. Beck ◽  
Mary E. Lidstrom

ABSTRACT Methylomicrobium buryatense 5GB1 is an obligate methylotroph which grows on methane or methanol with similar growth rates. It has long been assumed that the core metabolic pathways must be similar on the two substrates, but recent studies of methane metabolism in this bacterium suggest that growth on methanol might have significant differences from growth on methane. In this study, both a targeted metabolomics approach and a 13C tracer approach were taken to understand core carbon metabolism in M. buryatense 5GB1 during growth on methanol and to determine whether such differences occur. Our results suggest a systematic shift of active core metabolism in which increased flux occurred through both the Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway and the partial serine cycle, while the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle was incomplete, in contrast to growth on methane. Using the experimental results as constraints, we applied flux balance analysis to determine the metabolic flux phenotype of M. buryatense 5GB1 growing on methanol, and the results are consistent with predictions based on ATP and NADH changes. Transcriptomics analysis suggested that the changes in fluxes and metabolite levels represented results of posttranscriptional regulation. The combination of flux balance analysis of the genome-scale model and the flux ratio from 13C data changed the solution space for a better prediction of cell behavior and demonstrated the significant differences in physiology between growth on methane and growth on methanol. IMPORTANCE One-carbon compounds such as methane and methanol are of increasing interest as sustainable substrates for biological production of fuels and industrial chemicals. The bacteria that carry out these conversions have been studied for many decades, but gaps exist in our knowledge of their metabolic pathways. One such gap is the difference between growth on methane and growth on methanol. Understanding such metabolism is important, since each has advantages and disadvantages as a feedstock for production of chemicals and fuels. The significance of our research is in the demonstration that the metabolic network is substantially altered in each case and in the delineation of these changes. The resulting new insights into the core metabolism of this bacterium now provide an improved basis for future strain design.


Electronics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ik Joon Chang ◽  
Yesung Kang ◽  
Youngmin Kim

Reducing a supply voltage in order to minimize power consumption in memory is a major design consideration in this field of study. In static random access memory (SRAM), optimum energy can be achieved by reducing the voltage near the threshold voltage level for near threshold voltage computing (NTC). However, lowering the operational voltage drastically degrades the stability of SRAM. Thus, in conventional 6T SRAM, it is almost impossible to read exact data, even when a small process variation occurs. To address this problem, an 8T SRAM structure is proposed which can be widely used for improving the read stability at lower voltage operation. In this paper, we investigate the channel length biasing effect on the read access transistor of the 8T SRAM in NTC and compare this with 6T SRAM. Read stability can be improved by suppressing the leakage current due to the longer channel length. Simulation results show that, in NTC, up to a 12× read-error reduction can be achieved by the 20 nm channel length biasing in the 8T SRAM compared to 6T SRAM.


2018 ◽  
Vol 924 ◽  
pp. 953-957
Author(s):  
Hazem Elgabra ◽  
Amna Siddiqui ◽  
Shakti Singh

The increasing demand for electronics in harsh environment applications has inspired investigation of silicon carbide (SiC)-based devices and circuits, due to its superior electrical properties. Several researchers have demonstrated the viability of 4H-SiC control circuitry by developing small scale logic circuits entirely in 4H-SiC. However, development and design of memory elements, which is a critical component in any electronic system, is still not fully explored. To bridge this gap, this paper presents, a complete bipolar, static random access memory (SRAM) column that includes the memory cell and the peripheral circuitry, designed to exploit the unique properties of SiC. Simulation results for the proposed memory show stable operation across a wide range of temperatures (27 °C – 500 °C) with good noise margins and access speeds while running at a supply voltage as low as 5 V. This work validates the potential of developing memory architectures in 4H-SiC, paving the way for realizing small-sized digital systems for harsh environments.


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