Slope only sense amplifier with 4.5ns sense delay for 8Mbit memory sector, employing in situ current monitoring with 66 write speed improvement in 40nm embedded flash for automotive

摘要

This paper proposes two new design techniques, the slope sense amplifier (S-SA) circuit combined with in situ current monitoring (ISCM) implemented in a 40nm embedded FLASH technology. S-SA reduces the sense delay time below 4.5ns thereby enabling a sub 10ns read access time operation for an 8Mbit memory sector. It also provides a power reduction of more than 40% and reduces the occupied area of the sensing circuits by 50%. The S-SA enables a reduced signal development time on the BL increases the read window by 50%. In addition the ISCM improves the write performance by a factor of at least 1.6.