Ultra-low-power SRAM design in high variability advanced CMOS

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-181).Embedded SRAMs are a critical component in modern digital systems, and their role is preferentially increasing. As a result, SRAMs strongly impact the overall power, performance, and area, and, in order to manage these severely constrained trade-offs, they must be specially designed for target applications. Highly energy-constrained systems (e.g. implantable biomedical devices, multimedia handsets, etc.) are an important class of applications driving ultra-low-power SRAMs. This thesis analyzes the energy of an SRAM sub-array. Since supply- and threshold-voltage have a strong effect, targets for these are established in order to optimize energy. Despite the heavy emphasis on leakage-energy, analysis of a high-density 256x256 sub-array in 45nm LP CMOS points to two necessary optimizations: (1) aggressive supply-voltage reduction (in addition to Vt elevation), and (2) performance enhancement. Important SRAM metrics, including read/write/hold-margin and read-current, are also investigated to identify trade-offs of these optimizations. Based on the need to lower supply-voltage, a 0.35V 256kb SRAM is demonstrated in 65nm LP CMOS. It uses an 8T bit-cell with peripheral circuit-assists to improve write-margin and bit-line leakage. Additionally, redundancy, to manage the increasing impact of variability in the periphery, is proposed to improve the area-offset trade-off of sense-amplifiers, demonstrating promise for highly advanced technology nodes. Based on the need to improve performance, which is limited by density constraints, a 64kb SRAM, using an offset-compensating sense-amplifier, is demonstrated in 45nm LP CMOS with high-density 0.25[mu]m2 bit-cells.(cont.) The sense-amplifier is regenerative, but non -strobed, overcoming timing uncertainties limiting performance, and it is single-ended, for compatibility with 8T cells. Compared to a conventional strobed sense-amplifier, it achieves 34% improvement in worst-case access-time and 4x improvement in the standard deviation of the access-time.by Naveen Verma.Ph.D

Analytical evaluation of ILM sensors, volume 1

The functional requirements and operating environment constraints are defined for an independent landing monitor ILM which provides the flight crew with an independent assessment of the operation of the primary automatic landing system. The capabilities of radars, TV, forward looking infrared radiometers, multilateration, microwave radiometers, interferometers, and nuclear sensing concepts to meet the ILM conditions are analyzed. The most critical need for the ILM appears in the landing sequence from 1000 to 2000 meters from threshold through rollout. Of the sensing concepts analyzed, the following show potential of becoming feasible ILM's: redundant microwave landings systems, precision approach radar, airborne triangulation radar, multilateration with radar altimetry, and nuclear sensing

Modélisation compacte et conception de circuit à base de jonction tunnel ferroélectrique et de jonction tunnel magnétique exploitant le transfert de spin assisté par effet Hall de spin

Non-volatile memory (NVM) devices have been attracting intensive research interest since they promise to solve the increasing static power issue caused by CMOS technology scaling. This thesis focuses on two fields related to NVM: the one is the ferroelectric tunnel junction (FTJ), which is a recent emerging NVM device. The other is the spin-Hall-assisted spin-transfer torque (STT), which is a recent proposed write approach for the magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ). Our objective is to develop the compact models for these two technologies and to explore their application in the non-volatile circuits through simulation.First, we investigated physical models describing the electrical behaviors of the FTJ such as tunneling resistance, dynamic ferroelectric switching and memristive response. The accuracy of these physical models is validated by a good agreement with experimental results. In order to develop an electrical model available for the circuit simulation, we programmed the aforementioned physical models with Verilog-A language and integrated them together. The developed electrical model can run on Cadence platform (a standard circuit simulation tool) and faithfully reproduce the behaviors of the FTJ.Then, using the developed FTJ model and STMicroelectronics CMOS design kit, we designed and simulated three types of circuits: i) FTJ-based random access memory (FTRAM), ii) two FTJ-based neuromorphic systems, one of which emulates spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) learning rule, the other implements supervised learning of logic functions, iii) FTJ-based Boolean logic block, by which NAND and NOR logic are demonstrated. The influences of the FTJ parameters on the performance of these circuits were analyzed based on simulation results.Finally, we focused on the reversal of the perpendicular magnetization driven by spin-Hall-assisted STT in a three-terminal MTJ. In this scheme, two write currents are applied to generate spin-Hall effect (SHE) and STT. Numerical simulation based on Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation demonstrates that the incubation delay of the STT can be eliminated by the strong SHE, resulting in ultrafast magnetization switching without the need to strengthen the STT. We applied this novel write approach to the design of the magnetic flip-flop and full-adder. Performance comparison between the spin-Hall-assisted and the conventional STT magnetic circuits were discussed based on simulation results and theoretical models.Les mémoires non-volatiles (MNV) sont l'objet d'un effort de recherche croissant du fait de leur capacité à limiter la consommation statique, qui obère habituellement la réduction des dimensions dans la technologie CMOS. Dans ce contexte, cette thèse aborde plus spécifiquement deux technologies de mémoires non volatiles : d'une part les jonctions tunnel ferroélectriques (JTF), dispositif non volatil émergent, et d'autre part les dispositifs à transfert de spin (TS) assisté par effet Hall de spin (EHS), approche alternative proposée récemment pour écrire les jonctions tunnel magnétiques (JTM). Mon objectif est de développer des modèles compacts pour ces deux technologies et d'explorer, par simulation, leur intégration dans les circuits non-volatiles.J'ai d'abord étudié les modèles physiques qui décrivent les comportements électriques des JTF : la résistance tunnel, la dynamique de la commutation ferroélectrique et leur comportement memristif. La précision de ces modèles physiques est validée par leur bonne adéquation avec les résultats expérimentaux. Afin de proposer un modèle compatible avec les simulateurs électriques standards, nous j'ai développé les modèles physiques mentionnés ci-dessus en langue Verilog-A, puis je les ai intégrés ensemble. Le modèle électrique que j'ai conçu peut être exploité sur la plate-forme Cadence (un outil standard pour la simulation de circuit). Il reproduit fidèlement les comportements de JTF. Ensuite, en utilisant ce modèle de JTF et le design-kit CMOS de STMicroelectronics, j'ai conçu et simulé trois types de circuits: i) une mémoire vive (RAM) basée sur les JTF, ii) deux systèmes neuromorphiques basés sur les JTF, l'un qui émule la règle d'apprentissage de la plasticité synaptique basée sur le décalage temporel des impulsions neuronale (STDP), l'autre mettant en œuvre l'apprentissage supervisé de fonctions logiques, iii) un bloc logique booléen basé sur les JTF, y compris la démonstration des fonctions logiques NAND et NOR. L'influence des paramètres de la JTF sur les performances de ces circuits a été analysée par simulation. Finalement, nous avons modélisé la dynamique de renversement de l'aimantation dans les dispositifs à anisotropie perpendiculaire à transfert de spin assisté par effet Hall de spin dans un JTM à trois terminaux. Dans ce schéma, deux courants d'écriture sont appliqués pour générer l'EHS et le TS. La simulation numérique basée sur l'équation de Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) démontre que le délai d'incubation de TS peut être éliminé par un fort EHS, conduisant à la commutation ultra-rapide de l'aimantation, sans pour autant requérir une augmentation excessive du TS. Nous avons appliqué cette nouvelle méthode d'écriture à la conception d'une bascule magnétique et d'un additionneur 1 bit magnétique. Les performances des circuits magnétiques assistés par l'EHS ont été comparés à ceux écrits par transfert de spin, par simulation et par une analyse fondée sur le modèle théorique

Mu2e Technical Design Report

The Mu2e experiment at Fermilab will search for charged lepton flavor violation via the coherent conversion process mu- N --> e- N with a sensitivity approximately four orders of magnitude better than the current world's best limits for this process. The experiment's sensitivity offers discovery potential over a wide array of new physics models and probes mass scales well beyond the reach of the LHC. We describe herein the preliminary design of the proposed Mu2e experiment. This document was created in partial fulfillment of the requirements necessary to obtain DOE CD-2 approval.Comment: compressed file, 888 pages, 621 figures, 126 tables; full resolution available at http://mu2e.fnal.gov; corrected typo in background summary, Table 3.

Safety and Reliability - Safe Societies in a Changing World

The contributions cover a wide range of methodologies and application areas for safety and reliability that contribute to safe societies in a changing world. These methodologies and applications include: - foundations of risk and reliability assessment and management - mathematical methods in reliability and safety - risk assessment - risk management - system reliability - uncertainty analysis - digitalization and big data - prognostics and system health management - occupational safety - accident and incident modeling - maintenance modeling and applications - simulation for safety and reliability analysis - dynamic risk and barrier management - organizational factors and safety culture - human factors and human reliability - resilience engineering - structural reliability - natural hazards - security - economic analysis in risk managemen