Enhanced read performance for phase change memory using a reference column

Yu Lei; Houpeng Chen; Xi Li; Qian Wang; Qi Zhang; Jiajun Hu; Xiaoyun Li; Zhen Tian; Zhitang Song

doi:10.1587/elex.14.20170032

This article has now been updated. Please use the final version.

Enhanced read performance for phase change memory using a reference column

Yu Lei, Houpeng Chen, Xi Li, Qian Wang, Qi Zhang, Jiajun Hu, Xiaoyun Li, Zhen Tian, Zhitang Song

Author information

Yu Lei
State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Micro-system and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Houpeng Chen
State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Micro-system and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xi Li
State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Micro-system and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Qian Wang
State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Micro-system and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Qi Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Micro-system and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jiajun Hu
State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Micro-system and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiaoyun Li
State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Micro-system and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhen Tian
State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Micro-system and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhitang Song
State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Micro-system and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Keywords: phase change memory, read access time, reference current, PCRAM, sense amplifier

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS Advance online publication

Article ID: 14.20170032

DOI https://doi.org/10.1587/elex.14.20170032

The final version of this article is now available: Vol. 14 (2017), No. 5 pp. 20170032-20170032

Details

Abstract

A reference column is employed to improve the read performance of phase change memory (PCM). In this way, a changeable reference current replaces the constant one; both the reference cell and the selected cell have the same bit line (BL) parasitic parameters and read transmission gate parasitic parameters in the read operation. Simulated in a 40nm CMOS process, read access time of 4-Mb PCM is 30.65ns with 190.9ns improvement. Monte Carlo simulations show a 80.5ns worst read access time compared to the conventional 1.58μs.

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