Analysis of the row grounding technique in a memristor‐based crossbar array

Abstract

SummaryUsing memristive devices within a crossbar array could pave the way for memories with higher density and speed than state‐of‐the‐art Flash memory, while maintaining relatively low energy. However, memristive crossbar arrays have great difficulty distinguishing logical states because of sneak path currents. The row grounding technique eliminates the sneak path effect, allowing reliable sampling of the memristor state. In this paper, we analyze the row grounding technique and propose several methods and constraints for the design of memristive crossbar arrays. When the row grounding technique is used for these arrays, our analysis shows that increasing the number of rows can help reduce read latency and energy, in contrast to the case of capacitive memory arrays. Simulation results confirm the theoretical analysis proposed in this paper. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.