Post-Layout Offset and PPA Analysis of Majority Logic-Based Strong-Arm Sense Amplifier

To present a post-layout comparative analysis of mismatch-mitigation techniques for StrongARM sense amplifiers.

Traditional sizing-based approaches mitigate offset but increase delay and power; redundancy-based approaches reduce these limitations statistically.

High-speed memory applications, SRAM and other memory architectures.

Senseamplifiersarerequiredinhigh-speedmemorysystemstodetectverysmalldifferential voltages with high accuracy and reliability. However, device mismatches and process varia- tions introduce input-referred offset voltage into the circuit, significantly degrading sensing performance in dynamic latch-based architectures, such as Strong ARM sense amplifiers. As technologyscalesandparasiticpost-layouteffectsare introduced, theimpactofthesemismatch effectsgrowslinearlywithdevicesize. Thisworkpresentsapost-layoutcomparativeanalysisofmismatch-mitigationtechniquesfor Strong ARM senseamplifiersacrossbaseline, upsized, andmajority-logic-basedarchitectures. Thebaseline Strong ARM senseamplifierisfirstanalyzedtoevaluatetheimpactofmismatch- inducedoffset under Monte Carlosimulations. Anupsized Strong ARM implementationis then investigatedasaconventional, sizing-basedapproachtoimprovetransistormatching. Inaddition, aredundancy-driven, majority-logic-basedarchitectureemployingthreeparallelsensingpaths andvotingcircuitryisproposedtostatisticallysuppressmismatch-inducedsensingerrors. Datafrom completed Monte Carlosimulations indicate thatthenewarchitectureis themost robusttomismatchvariationamongthearchitecturessimulated. Thenewarchitecturereduces theoffsetstandarddeviationfrom 11.191 m Vfora Strong ARM to 3.705 m Vinapost-layout scenario. Althoughthenewarchitectureaddsdelaysandsensingenergyduetoredundantsensing pathsandvotinglogic, itimprovessensingreliability. Itsignificantlyreducesoffsetvariability compared to traditional single-path sensing. The results presented in this paper demonstrate thatusingredundancyinthesensingpathisagoodalternativetoaggressivetransistorsizingfor mitigatingpost-layoutmismatchesinhigh-speedmemoryapplications.