Adaptive static and dynamic noise margin improvement in minimum-sized 6T-SRAM cells

• Word-line voltage modulation improves static and dynamic stability.
• A word-line voltage 20% reduction increases 52.6% of SNM and 24.5% of Qcrit.
• Experimental results show word-line reduction without affecting SRAM performance.
• The minimum power-supply during read can be reduced when word-line reduces.

We present a novel SRAM technique for simultaneously enhancing the static and dynamic noise margins in six transistor cells implemented with minimum size devices using a design for manufacturability constrained layout. During each access, the word-line voltage (VWL) is internally reduced with respect to the cell and bit-line voltages that are maintained at nominal VDD. A specific VWL can be determined for each memory region, thus allowing for an adaptive approach. The benefits and drawbacks of the technique on the overall memory performance are thoroughly investigated through both simulations and experimental data. Simulations results show that this technique expands the read margin without an appreciable increase of memory area. Specifically, an improvement of 52.6% in static noise margin and a 24.5% in critical charge (parameter used to account for the dynamic stability) has been achieved with a VWL reduction of 20%. The impact of variability on SNM is reduced, while both read and write delay increase by a specific amount that should be considered as a tradeoff when setting the word-line voltage value. A 16Kbit SRAM test chip including the proposed technique has been fabricated in a 65 nm CMOS technology. Silicon measurements confirm that the proposed technique improves cell stability during READ, which allows operating at relatively low values of VWL with a small impact on read time.