Penn ESE370 Fall2013 -- DeHon 1 ESE370: Circuit-Level Modeling, Design, and Optimization for Digital Systems Day 28: November 8, 2013 Memory Overview

Penn ESE370 Fall2013 -- DeHon1

ESE370:Circuit-Level

Modeling, Design, and Optimization for Digital Systems

Day 28: November 8, 2013Memory Overview

Today

• Memory– Motivation– Organization– Basic components– Optimization concerns

• Project 2 is on this


Know how to store state


Register Storage

• Could just put together a large number of registers

• Concerns?


Concerns?

• Large number of wires– Could determine area– 5 wire pitch how wide?

• May want to store for many cycles


Usage Scenario• How many state

values read on each cycle?


Concerns?

• Large number of wires– Could determine area

• May want to store for many cycles• Not able to update all on every cycle• Not able to use all on every cycle


Limited Data Use

• What else do we need to share the wires if can only use one register on each cycle?– Use with shared data path

• Need to select the one output– Can only update one

• Need to control which one gets written


Limited Data Use

• Add load enableto register

• Logic to enable one register on write

• Mux to select output

Penn ESE370 Fall2013 -- DeHon9we

Good Solution?• Could get away with

just latch– Not full register with

master/slave latch• Pay large amount

for decode and mux– Proportional to

memory bits

Penn ESE370 Fall2013 -- DeHon10we

Memory Idea

• Maximize storage density (bits/cm2)• By minimizing the size/complexity of the

repeated element• Use shared periphery circuits to provide

full functionality

• Trades off bandwidth (concurrent access) to save area


Memory Bank


Share Address Decode• Word – group of bits read/written together

– All have same control


Share Address Decode• Words• Mux select bits (words) from row read

– When only want a subset


Share Address Decode• Result: only spend N0.5 area (perimeter)

on selecting rather than linear in bits


Gate Density

• When is 14n > 5n+32*sqrt(n) ?


Memory Row• Use shared enable for wire economy

– Word line


Memory Column

• Use shared bus for area and wire economy– Row enable selects the cells to

read/write from bus


Memory Cell

• Hold data• Conditionally drive onto output bus• Conditionally overwritten with data from bus


5T SRAM Memory Bit



SRAM Memory bit

• Core is back-to-back inverters for storage


SRAM Memory bit

• Pass gate mux for output to column– Bit-Line (BL)


SRAM Memory bit

• How do we write into this cell?– No directionality to

pass gate– If drive BL strong

enough, can flip value in selected cell

• Ratioed operation

Column Capacitance

• What is capacitance of bit line (column)?– Waccess (M5,M6) – transistor width of column

device– d rows =Cdiff/Cgate


Time Driving Bit Line• In terms of Waccess, Wbuf (M1,M3), d

• For Waccess=Wbuf=1, d=512, =0.5


Column Capacitance Consequence

• Want Waccess, Wbuf small to keep memory cell small

• Increasing Waccess, also increases Cbl

– Don’t really win by sizing up• Conclude: Driving bit line will be slow


Column Sensing• Speedup read time by sensing limited

swing• Sense circuit detects small change in

bit line voltage– Precharge to intermediate voltage

• Amplifier for output


Output Amps• Bottom of array includes Sense

Amplifiers from bit lines to output


Column Write• Writes driven from outside array• Use large driver

– Strong enough to flip memory bit– Strong so can charge column quickly

• Disable when not write– Be careful on your

project2– Could overwrite wrong

row


Complete Memory Bank


Idea

• Memory for compact state storage• Share circuitry across many bits

– Minimize area per bit maximize density• Aggressively use:

– Pass transistors, Ratioing– Precharge, Amplifiers

to keep area down


Admin

• HW7 due Tuesday• MT2 solutions by Monday


Documents

Penn ESE370 Fall2013 -- DeHon 1 ESE370: Circuit-Level Modeling, Design, and Optimization for Digital Systems Day 28: November 8, 2013 Memory Overview