§16§This book pioneers the field of gain-cell embedded DRAM (GC-eDRAM) design for low-power VLSI systems-on-chip (SoCs). Novel GC-eDRAMs are specifically designed and optimized for a range of low-power VLSI SoCs, ranging from ultra-low power to power-aware high-performance applications. After a detailed review of prior-art GC-eDRAMs, an analytical retention time distribution model is introduced and validated by silicon measurements, which is key for low-power GC-eDRAM design. The book then investigates supply voltage scaling and near-threshold voltage (NTV) operation of a conventional gain cell (GC), before presenting novel GC circuit and assist techniques for NTV operation, including a 3-transistor full transmission-gate write port, reverse body biasing (RBB), and a replica technique for optimum refresh timing. Next, conventional GC bitcells are evaluated under aggressive technology and voltage scaling (down to the subthreshold domain), before novel bitcells for aggressively scaled C §16§MOS nodes and soft-error tolerance as presented, including a 4-transistor GC with partial internal feedback and a 4-transistor GC with built-in redundancy.§ §04§Motivation.- Introduction to Gain-Cell Based eDRAMs (GC-eDRAMs).- GC-eDRAMs Operated at Scaled Supply Voltages.- Near- V T GC-eDRAM Implementations with Extended Retention Times.- Aggressive Technology and Voltage Scaling (to Sub- V T Domain).- Single-Supply 3T Gain-Cell for Low-Voltage Low-Power Applications.- 4T Gain-Cell with Internal-Feedback for Ultra-Low Retention Power at Scaled CMOS Nodes.- Multilevel GC-eDRAM (MLGC-eDRAM).- Soft Error Tolerant Low Power 4T Gain-Cell Array with Multi-Bit Error Detection and Correction.- Conclusions.§ §02§§ Dr. Pascal Meinerzhagen is a Senior Research Scientist at Intel Labs, Intel Corporation, performing research into energy-efficient, error-resilient circuits and systems in high-performance FinFET CMOS technology.§ § Dr. Adam Teman is a tenure track Senior Lecturer and co-director of the Emerging NanoScaled Integrated Circuits and Systems (EnICS) Labs in the Faculty of Engineering at Bar-Ilan Univeristy. His research interests include energy-efficient digital circuit design with an emphasis on embedded memories and efficient physical implementation of VLSI systems.§
