A low-power SRAM design with enhanced stability and ION/IOFF ratio in FinFET technology for wearable device applications

Abstract

ABSTRACT Wearable device applications such as smartwatches, fitness trackers, and health monitors rely on batteries for power and require static random-access memory (SRAM) with low power consumption and high stability to ensure accurate sensor readings during prolonged operation. In this regard, this paper proposes a novel low-power single-ended 10-transistor (SE10T) SRAM cell with high stabilities. It utilises a stacked pull-down structure for hold/read stability improvement and leakage power reduction, a feedback-cutting mechanism for writability enhancement, and single-ended read/write structures for dynamic power reduction. Also, using a single-transistor reading path with eliminated read bitline leakage enhances ON-to-OFF currents (I ON /I OFF ) ratio. The proposed design is compared with the conventional 6T, Schmitt-trigger 10T (ST10T), differential writing 10T (DW10T), data-independent read port 10T (DIRP10T), transmission gate read-decoupled 9T (TGRD9T), and feedback-cutting 11T (FC11T) SRAM cells based on 7-nm Fin-shaped Field-Effect Transistor (FinFET) technology at V DD = 0.4 V. The proposed design shows at least 1.04×/1.01×/1.12×/1.25×/1.15× improvement in read stability/writability/read delay/leakage power/dynamic power. Moreover, it shows at least 1.22× improvement in I ON /I OFF ratio and offers the lowest minimum operating voltage (0.292 V). However, it offers a 1.02× lower hold stability than that of ST10T, a 1.18×/1.14×/1.13× higher write delay compared to 6T/ST10T/DW10T, and a 1.56×/1.07×/1.05× higher layout area occupation in comparison with 6T/TGRD9T/DIRP10T. Therefore, the proposed SRAM cell can be an optimum candidate for usage in smartwatches.