A new low-power GaAs two-single-port memory cell

A. Bernal (1) , A. Guyot (1)

1 TIMA - Techniques de l'Informatique et de la Microélectronique pour l'Architecture des systèmes intégrés

This paper describes an experimental static memory cell in GaAs MESFET technology. The memory cell has been implemented using a mix of several techniques already published in order to overcome some of their principal drawbacks related to ground shifting, destructive readout, and leakage current effects. The cell size is 36*37 mu m/sup 2/ using a 0.6- mu m technology. An experimental 32 word * 32 bit array has been designed. From simulation results, an address access time of 1 ns has been obtained. A small 8 word*4 bit protoype was fabricated. The cell can be operated at the single supply voltage from 1 up to 2 V. The evaluation is provided according to the functionality and power dissipation. Measured results show a total current consumption of 14 mu A/cell when operated at 1 V.

Mots clés: two-single-port-memory-cell; static-memory-cell; MESFET-technology; ground-shifting; destructive-readout; leakage-current-effects; cell-size; address-access-time; supply-voltage; functionality-; power-dissipation; total-current-consumption; III-V-semiconductors; 0.6-micron; 32-bit; 1-ns; 1-to-2-V

Domaines: Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique

A. Bernal, A. Guyot. A new low-power GaAs two-single-port memory cell. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 1998, July ; 33(7), pp.1103-10. ⟨10.1109/4.701272⟩. ⟨hal-00014401⟩