Slope only sense amplifier with 4.5ns sense delay for 8Mbit memory sector, employing in situ current monitoring with 66% write speed improvement in 40nm embedded flash for automotive

Abstract

This paper proposes two new design techniques, the slope sense amplifier (S-SA) circuit combined with in situ current monitoring (ISCM) implemented in a 40nm embedded FLASH technology. S-SA reduces the sense delay time below 4.5ns thereby enabling a sub 10ns read access time operation for an 8Mbit memory sector. It also provides a power reduction of more than 40% and reduces the occupied area of the sensing circuits by 50%. The S-SA enables a reduced signal development time on the BL increases the read window by 50%. In addition the ISCM improves the write performance by a factor of at least 1.6.