Energy/reliability trade-offs in low-voltage ReRAM-based non-volatile flip-flop design

Ibrahim Kazi, Pascal Meinerzhagen, Pierre Emmanuel Gaillardon, Davide Sacchetto, Yusuf Leblebici, Andreas Burg, Giovanni De Micheli

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

63 Scopus citations

Abstract

The total power budget of Ultra-Low Power (ULP) VLSI Systems-on-Chip (SoCs) is often dominated by the leakage power of embedded memories as well as status registers. On the one hand, supply voltage scaling down to the near-threshold (near-V\rm T ) or even to the subthreshold (sub-V\rm T) domain is a commonly used, efficient technique to reduce both leakage power and active energy dissipation. On the other hand, emerging CMOS-compatible device technologies such as Resistive Memories (ReRAMs) enable non-volatile, on-chip data storage and zero-leakage sleep periods. For the first time, we present and compare ReRAM-based Non-Volatile Flip-Flop (NVFF) topologies which are optimized for low-voltage operation (including near-V\rm T and sub-V\rm T operation). Three low-voltage NVFF circuit topologies are proposed and evaluated in terms of energy dissipation and reliability. Using topologies with two complementary programmed ReRAM devices, Monte Carlo simulations accounting for parametric variations confirm reliable data restore operation from the ReRAM devices at a sub-V\rm T voltage as low as 400 mV. A topology using a single ReRAM device exhibits lower write energy, but requires a near-V\rm T voltage for robust read. Energy characterization is performed at nominal, near-V\rm T, and sub-V\rm T supply voltages. The minimum energy point is reached for near-V\rm T read operation with a total read+write energy of 735 fJ.

Original languageEnglish
Article number6857429
Pages (from-to)3155-3164
Number of pages10
JournalIEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers
Volume61
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2014
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2004-2012 IEEE.

Funding

FundersFunder number
Seventh Framework Programme246810

    Keywords

    • Flip-flops
    • low-power electronics
    • nonvolatile memory

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Energy/reliability trade-offs in low-voltage ReRAM-based non-volatile flip-flop design'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this