On the Restore Operation in MTJ-Based Nonvolatile SRAM Cells

Abstract

This brief investigates the Restore mechanism of a nonvolatile static random access memory (NVSRAM) cell that utilizes two magnetic tunneling junctions (MTJs) as nonvolatile resistive elements and a 6T SRAM core. Two cells are proposed by employing different mechanisms for the Restore operation once the power is reestablished. The proposed cells use the bitline and supply as mechanisms to initiate the Restore operation, so connecting the two MTJs to different nodes of the NVSRAM circuitry. The cells are extensively analyzed in terms of their operations with respect to different figures of merit, such as operational delays (for the Write, Read, and Restore operations), the static noise margin, power consumption, critical charge, and process variations (in both the MOSFETs and the resistive elements). Simulation results show that the cell with the MTJs connected to the supply offers the best performance in terms of power for the Read/Restore operations; it also achieves the best Read delay, but the worst Restore delay.