Self-equalized low power precharge sense amp for high speed SRAMs

摘要

In a sense amplifier for reading out memory cells of a memory comprising a set of P-FETs and N-FETs, complementary input signals received from the memory cell being read out are applied to input junctions connected to gates of N-FETs. The input junctions are charged to 0.8 volts by a precharging circuit comprising P-FETs connecting the input junctions to ground and an N-FET shunting the input junctions together. The P-FETs and N-FETs of the precharging circuit are rendered conductive between memory cells readouts to precharge the input junctions and are rendered nonconducting during memory cell readouts. A second precharging circuit precharges an output junction of the sense amplifier circuit. The output junction is connected to an output amplification stage including a CMOS circuit. Because of the low equalization voltage to which the input junctions are precharged, the time to precharge the input junctions is dramatically reduced and a reduction in the memory access time is achieved.