Long-Retention-Time, High-Speed DRAM Array with 12-F2 Twin Cell for Sub 1-V Operation

Riichiro TAKEMURA
Kiyoo ITOH
Tomonori SEKIGUCHI
Satoru AKIYAMA
Satoru HANZAWA
Kazuhiko KAJIGAYA
Takayuki KAWAHARA

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics   Vol.E90-C    No.4    pp.758-764
Publication Date: 2007/04/01
Online ISSN: 1745-1353
DOI: 10.1093/ietele/e90-c.4.758
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Special Section on Low-Power, High-Speed LSIs and Related Technologies)
Category: Memory
Keyword: 
twin-cell DRAM array,  write time,  low voltage RAM,  retention time,  and plate-driven cell,  

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Summary: 
A DRAM-cell array with 12-F2 twin cell was developed and evaluated in terms of speed, retention time, and low-voltage operation. The write and read-out times of the twin-cell array are shorter than those of a single-cell array by 70% and 40% respectively, because of parallel writing and reading of half charge to and from two memory cells. According to measured retention characteristics of the single cells, the twin-cell array improves retention time by 20% compared with the single-cell array at 1 V and keeps the retention time of the single-cell array at 0.4 V. Furthermore, the cell accepts the plate-driven scheme without the need of a dummy cell, lowering the necessary word-line voltage by 0.4 V.