A New Read Circuit for Multi-Bit Memristor-Based Memories based on Time to Digital Sensing Circuit

摘要

Memristors have gained significant attention in various applications because of their unique properties especially in memory technologies. Owing to their analog nature, memristors have a remarkable ability to store multi-bit values in a single cell. In order to support the full potential of this memory technology the cell must be read with a circuit that exhibits low voltage operation, less complexity, fast, and compatible with digital designs. In this work, a time-based read circuit is proposed that supports the read of multi-bit storage 1T1R cells. This time-based read circuit utilizes a time-based analog-to-digital converter (T-ADC) with 200 mV dynamic range and with time resolution of 6 ps to distinguish between multi-bit states of the memristor. The proposed circuit can support 256 1T1R memory cells.