Yield and speed optimization of a latch-type voltage sense amplifier

Bernhard Wicht, Thomas Nirschl, Doris Schmitt-Landsiedel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

410 Scopus citations

Abstract

A quantitative yield analysis of a latch-type voltage sense amplifier with a high-impedance differential input stage is presented. It investigates the impact of supply voltage, input dc level, transistor sizing, and temperature on the input offset voltage. The input dc level turns out to be most significant. Also, an analytical expression for the sensing delay is derived which shows low sensitivity on the input dc bias voltage. A figure of merit indicates that an input dc level of 0.7 VDD is optimal regarding speed and yield. Experimental results in 130-nm CMOS technology confirm that the yield can be significantly improved by lowering the input dc voltage to about 70% of the supply voltage. Thereby, the offset standard deviation decreases from 19 to 8.5 mV without affecting the delay.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1148-1158
Number of pages11
JournalIEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits
Volume39
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2004

Keywords

  • Current sensing
  • Latch delay
  • Latch-type sense amplifier
  • SRAM circuits
  • SRAM yield
  • Sense amplifier
  • Yield optimization

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