Power-efficient noise-induced reduction of reram cell's temporal variability effects

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • V. Ntinas - , Democritus University of Thrace, UPC Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Barcelona Tech) (Author)
  • Antonio Rubio - , UPC Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Barcelona Tech) (Author)
  • Georgios Ch Sirakoulis - , Democritus University of Thrace (Author)
  • E.S. Aguilera - , Autonomous University of Barcelona (Author)
  • M. Pedro - , Autonomous University of Barcelona (Author)
  • A. Crespo-Yepes - , Autonomous University of Barcelona (Author)
  • J. Martin-Martinez - , Autonomous University of Barcelona (Author)
  • Rosana Rodriguez Martinez - , Autonomous University of Barcelona (Author)
  • M. Nafria - , Autonomous University of Barcelona (Author)

Abstract

Resistive Random Access Memory (ReRAM) is a promising novel memory technology for non-volatile storing, with low-power operation and ultra-high area density. However, ReRAM memories still face issues through commercialization, mainly owing to the fact that the high fabrication variations and the stochastic switching of the manufactured ReRAM devices cause high Bit Error Rate (BER). Given that ReRAM devices are nonlinear elements, the nonlinear phenomenon of Stochastic Resonance (SR), which defines that an input disturbance with specific characteristics can improve the total performance of the nonlinear system, is used to reduce the ReRAM cell's BER. Thus, in this brief, the BER of a single ReRAM cell is explored, using the Stanford PKU model, and is improved after the application of specific additive input noise. The power dissipation of the proposed approach is also evaluated and compared with the consideration of higher amplitude writing pulses in the lack of noise, showing that the proposed noise-induced technique can decrease the BER without the excessive increase of the power dissipation. As a first step, towards the experimental verification of the proposed method, noise-induced measurements on a single fabricated ReRAM device are also performed. Overall, the presented results of the BER reduction with low power dissipation, reaching up to 3.26× less power consumption considering 100 ns writing pulses, are encouraging for ReRAM designers, delivering a circuit-level solution against the device-level problem.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number9205867
Pages (from-to)1378-1382
Number of pages5
JournalIEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs
Volume68
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2021
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85100377739
Mendeley 9083e916-da88-3f98-bb28-0c830d5ed038

Keywords