scholarly journals A Novel 8T Cell-Based Subthreshold Static RAM for Ultra-Low Power Platform Applications

Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 928 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taehoon Kim ◽  
Sivasundar Manisankar ◽  
Yeonbae Chung

Subthreshold SRAMs profit various energy-constrained applications. The traditional 6T SRAMs exhibit poor cell stability with voltage scaling. To this end, several 8T to 16T cell designs have been reported to improve the stability. However, they either suffer one of disturbances or consume large bit-area overhead. Furthermore, some cell options have a limited write-ability. This paper presents a novel 8T static RAM for reliable subthreshold operation. The cell employs a fully differential scheme and features cross-point access. An adaptive cell bias for each operating mode eliminates the read disturbance and enlarges the write-ability as well as the half-select stability in a cost-effective small bit-area. The bit-cell also can support efficient bit-interleaving. To verify the SRAM technique, a 32-kbit macro incorporating the proposed cell was implemented with an industrial 180 nm low-power CMOS process. At 0.4 V and room temperature, the proposed cell achieves 3.6× better write-ability and 2.6× higher dummy-read stability compared with the commercialized 8T cell. The 32-kbit SRAM successfully operates down to 0.21 V (~0.27 V lower than transistor threshold voltage). At its lowest operating voltage, the sleep-mode leakage power of entire SRAM is 7.75 nW. Many design results indicate that the proposed SRAM design, which is applicable to an aggressively-scaled process, might be quite useful in realizing cost-effective robust ultra-low voltage SRAMs.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Francesco Centurelli ◽  
Riccardo Della Sala ◽  
Pietro Monsurrò ◽  
Giuseppe Scotti ◽  
Alessandro Trifiletti

In this paper, we present a novel operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) topology based on a dual-path body-driven input stage that exploits a body-driven current mirror-active load and targets ultra-low-power (ULP) and ultra-low-voltage (ULV) applications, such as IoT or biomedical devices. The proposed OTA exhibits only one high-impedance node, and can therefore be compensated at the output stage, thus not requiring Miller compensation. The input stage ensures rail-to-rail input common-mode range, whereas the gate-driven output stage ensures both a high open-loop gain and an enhanced slew rate. The proposed amplifier was designed in an STMicroelectronics 130 nm CMOS process with a nominal supply voltage of only 0.3 V, and it achieved very good values for both the small-signal and large-signal Figures of Merit. Extensive PVT (process, supply voltage, and temperature) and mismatch simulations are reported to prove the robustness of the proposed amplifier.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Chrisben Gladson ◽  
Adith Hari Narayana ◽  
V. Thenmozhi ◽  
M. Bhaskar

AbstractDue to the increased processing data rates, which is required in applications such as fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks, the battery power will discharge rapidly. Hence, there is a need for the design of novel circuit topologies to cater the demand of ultra-low voltage and low power operation. In this paper, a low-noise amplifier (LNA) operating at ultra-low voltage is proposed to address the demands of battery-powered communication devices. The LNA dual shunt peaking and has two modes of operation. In low-power mode (Mode-I), the LNA achieves a high gain ($$S21$$ S 21 ) of 18.87 dB, minimum noise figure ($${NF}_{min.}$$ NF m i n . ) of 2.5 dB in the − 3 dB frequency range of 2.3–2.9 GHz, and third-order intercept point (IIP3) of − 7.9dBm when operating at 0.6 V supply. In high-power mode (Mode-II), the achieved gain, NF, and IIP3 are 21.36 dB, 2.3 dB, and 13.78dBm respectively when operating at 1 V supply. The proposed LNA is implemented in UMC 180 nm CMOS process technology with a core area of $$0.40{\mathrm{ mm}}^{2}$$ 0.40 mm 2 and the post-layout validation is performed using Cadence SpectreRF circuit simulator.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (13) ◽  
pp. 1850206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingshan Yang ◽  
Peiqing Han ◽  
Niansong Mei ◽  
Zhaofeng Zhang

A 16.4[Formula: see text]nW, sub-1[Formula: see text]V voltage reference for ultra-low power low voltage applications is proposed. This design reduces the operating voltage to 0.8[Formula: see text]V by a BJT voltage divider and decreases the silicon area considerably by eliminating resistors. The PTAT and CTAT are based on SCM structures and a scaled-down [Formula: see text], respectively, to improve the process insensitivity. This work is fabricated in 0.18[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m CMOS process with a total area of 0.0033[Formula: see text]mm2. Measured results show that it works properly for supply voltage from 0.8[Formula: see text]V to 2[Formula: see text]V. The reference voltage is 467.2[Formula: see text]mV with standard deviation ([Formula: see text]) being 12.2 mV and measured TC at best is 38.7[Formula: see text]ppm/[Formula: see text]C ranging from [Formula: see text]C to 60[Formula: see text]C. The total power consumption is 16.4[Formula: see text]nW under the minimum supply voltage at 27[Formula: see text]C.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (1) ◽  
pp. 000181-000184
Author(s):  
F.R. Libsch ◽  
S.W. Bedell ◽  
B.C. Webb ◽  
A. Paidimarri

Abstract This paper discusses some design and implementation issues related to GaN micro-LED (μLED) incorporated into the heterogeneous packaging of IBM’s smart and secure sensor platform. For cost effective μLEDs, the sapphire substrate needs to be singulated reliably and with minimum kerf perimeter, be ultra-clean and smooth to allow back side emission without scattering, and high yielding front side flip chip bonding with 20μm C4s on 40μm pitch. The GaN μLEDs are design for low voltage/low power operation with an emission area of 20μm × 20μm with critical current density of ~10nA/μm2. Power and downlink data is delivered to the system via optical energy harvesting by on-silicon carrier photovoltaics and communication photodiode, respectively. Optical amplitude modulated uplink communication by heterogeneous packaging of the GaN μLED with a 14nm CMOS smart chip will be detailed and demonstrated in presentation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Ling Lin ◽  
Zhong Tang ◽  
Nianxiong Tan ◽  
Xiaohui Xiao

In this paper, we identify and address the problems of designing effective power management schemes in low-power MCU design. Firstly, this paper proposes an application-based multipower domain architecture along with a variety of working modes to effectively realize the hierarchical control of power consumption. Furthermore, devices in energy IoT (eIoT) do not always work under the main power supply. When the main power supply is unavailable, the standby power supply (usually the battery) needs to maintain the operation and save the data. In order to ensure the complete isolation between these two power sources, it is always necessary to insert a diode in both select-conduction paths, respectively. In this paper, we built a stable and smooth power switching circuit into the chip, which can effectively avoid the diode voltage loss and reduce the BoM cost. In addition, in the sleep mode, considering the relaxed output voltage range and a limited driving capability requirement, an ultra-low-power standby power circuit is proposed, which can autonomously replace the internal LDO when in sleep, further reducing the sleep power consumption under the main power supply. Fabricated in a standard 0.11 μm CMOS process, our comparative analysis demonstrates substantial reduction in power consumption from 1 μA to 0.1 μA.


2017 ◽  
Vol MCSP2017 (01) ◽  
pp. 7-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subhashree Rath ◽  
Siba Kumar Panda

Static random access memory (SRAM) is an important component of embedded cache memory of handheld digital devices. SRAM has become major data storage device due to its large storage density and less time to access. Exponential growth of low power digital devices has raised the demand of low voltage low power SRAM. This paper presents design and implementation of 6T SRAM cell in 180 nm, 90 nm and 45 nm standard CMOS process technology. The simulation has been done in Cadence Virtuoso environment. The performance analysis of SRAM cell has been evaluated in terms of delay, power and static noise margin (SNM).


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 889
Author(s):  
Xiaoying Deng ◽  
Peiqi Tan

An ultra-low-power K-band LC-VCO (voltage-controlled oscillator) with a wide tuning range is proposed in this paper. Based on the current-reuse topology, a dynamic back-gate-biasing technique is utilized to reduce power consumption and increase tuning range. With this technique, small dimension cross-coupled pairs are allowed, reducing parasitic capacitors and power consumption. Implemented in SMIC 55 nm 1P7M CMOS process, the proposed VCO achieves a frequency tuning range of 19.1% from 22.2 GHz to 26.9 GHz, consuming only 1.9 mW–2.1 mW from 1.2 V supply and occupying a core area of 0.043 mm2. The phase noise ranges from −107.1 dBC/HZ to −101.9 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset over the whole tuning range, while the total harmonic distortion (THD) and output power achieve −40.6 dB and −2.9 dBm, respectively.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 805
Author(s):  
Shi Zuo ◽  
Jianzhong Zhao ◽  
Yumei Zhou

This article presents a low power digital controlled oscillator (DCO) with an ultra low power duty cycle correction (DCC) scheme. The DCO with the complementary cross-coupled topology uses the controllable tail resistor to improve the tail current efficiency. A robust duty cycle correction (DCC) scheme is introduced to replace self-biased inverters to save power further. The proposed DCO is implemented in a Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) 40 nm CMOS process. The measured phase noise at room temperature is −115 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset with a dissipation of 210 μμW at an oscillating frequency of 2.12 GHz, and the resulin figure-of-merit is s −189 dBc/Hz.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1156
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Benvenuti ◽  
Alessandro Catania ◽  
Giuseppe Manfredini ◽  
Andrea Ria ◽  
Massimo Piotto ◽  
...  

The design of ultra-low voltage analog CMOS integrated circuits requires ad hoc solutions to counteract the severe limitations introduced by the reduced voltage headroom. A popular approach is represented by inverter-based topologies, which however may suffer from reduced finite DC gain, thus limiting the accuracy and the resolutions of pivotal circuits like analog-to-digital converters. In this work, we discuss the effects of finite DC gain on ultra-low voltage ΔΣ modulators, focusing on the converter gain error. We propose an ultra-low voltage, ultra-low power, inverter-based ΔΣ modulator with reduced finite-DC-gain sensitivity. The modulator employs a two-stage, high DC-gain, switched-capacitor integrator that applies a correlated double sampling technique for offset cancellation and flicker noise reduction; it also makes use of an amplifier that implements a novel common-mode stabilization loop. The modulator was designed with the UMC 0.18 μm CMOS process to operate with a supply voltage of 0.3 V. It was validated by means of electrical simulations using the CadenceTM design environment. The achieved SNDR was 73 dB, with a bandwidth of 640 Hz, and a clock frequency of 164 kHz, consuming only 200.5 nW. It achieves a Schreier Figure of Merit of 168.1 dB. The proposed modulator is also able to work with lower supply voltages down to 0.15 V with the same resolution and a lower power consumption despite of a lower bandwidth. These characteristics make this design very appealing in sensor interfaces powered by energy harvesting sources.


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