Novel Self-Reference Sense Amplifier for Spin-Transfer-Torque Magneto-Resistive Random Access Memory

Jun-Tae Choi, Gyu-Hyun Kil, Kyu-Beom Kim, Yun-Heub Song
2016 JSTS Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science  
A novel self-reference sense amplifier with parallel reading during writing operation is proposed. Read access time is improved compared to conventional self-reference scheme with fast operation speed by reducing operation steps to 1 for read operation cycle using parallel reading scheme, while large sense margin competitive to conventional destructive scheme is obtained by using self-reference scheme. The simulation was performed using standard 0.18 mm CMOS process. The proposed selfreference
more » ... ense amplifier improved not only the operation speed of less than 20 ns which is comparable to non-destructive sense amplifier, but also sense margin over 150 mV which is larger than conventional sensing schemes. The proposed scheme is expected to be very helpful for engineers for developing MRAM technology. Index Terms-Magneto-resistive Random Access Memory, MRAM, self-reference, sense amplifier, operation speed, sense margin Jun-Tae Choi received the B.S. in
doi:10.5573/jsts.2016.16.1.031 fatcat:d2mbepresnemrfdafd2syt52by