Pre-Emphasis Pulse Design for Random-Access Memory

Abstract

This paper describes how one can reduce the memory access time with pre-emphasis (PE) pulses even in non-volatile random-access memory. Optimum PE pulse widths and resultant minimum word-line (WL) delay times are investigated as a function of column address. The impact of the process variation in the time constant of WL, the cell current, and the resistance of deciding path on optimum PE pulses are discussed. Optimum PE pulse widths and resultant minimum WL delay times are modeled with fitting curves as a function of column address of the accessed memory cell, which provides designers with the ability to set the optimum timing for WL and BL (bit-line) operations, reducing average memory access time.