Browsing by Author "Hsieh, Henry"

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A 16kB Tile-able SRAM Macro Prototype for an Operating Window of 4.8GHz at 1.12V VDD to 10 MHz at 0.5V in a 28-nm HKMG CMOS
(2014)
Kuo, Ming-Zhang
;
Hsieh, Henry
;
Dhong, Sang
;
Yang, Ping-Lin
;
Lin, Cheng-Chung
This paper describes a tile-able 16-kByte 6-T SRAM macro in a High-K Metal-Gate (HKMG) 28-nm bulk technology with an operating window from 4.8 GHz at 1.12 V VDD down to 10 MHz at 0.5V, meeting almost all of the Dynamic Voltage Frequency Scaling (DVFS) requirements of Level-1 (L1) caches of a digital microprocessor SOC. It uses an unmodified technology-supported 0.156um(2) high-current (HC) SRAM cell. Innovative and carefully optimized circuit solutions provide the wide operating range measured in hardware. We also discuss two circuit improvements, a cross-coupled PMOS-pair for each bitline-pair with mux readout and an independently-controlled precharge-and-write driver (ICPW), which gives a wider DVFS operating window with reduced sensitivities to Process-Voltage-Temperature (PVT) variations. Improved SRAM macros with new circuits have been designed and laid out and their performance and area verified in simulation.
Custom 6-R, 2-or 4-W Multi-Port Register Files in an ASIC SOC with a DVFS Window of 0.5 V, 130 MHz to 0.96 V, 3.2 GHz in a 28-nm HKMG CMOS Technology
(2015)
Hsieh, Henry
;
Dhong, Sang H.
;
Lin, Cheng-Chung
;
Kuo, Ming-Zhang
;
Tseng, Kuo-Feng
We describe custom 6R, 2/4W general-purpose register files (GRF) in an ASIC-based SOC implemented in a N28 CMOS technology, which has roughly a 2 similar to 3 X smaller area, 2 X faster speed, and 5 X lower power than a logic synthesized version. Synthesized and custom GRFs also have a different read behavior from static and dynamic circuitry used, respectively. This is addressed by modifying a bypass control block. Hardware showed a DVFS window of 0.5 V @ccuit, 130 MHz to 0.96 V, 3.2 GHz.