EXTENT: Enabling Approximation-Oriented Energy Efficient STT-RAM Write Circuit

Spin Transfer Torque Random Access Memory (STT-RAM) has garnered interest due to its various characteristics such as non-volatility, low leakage power, high density. Its magnetic properties have a vital role in STT switching operations through thermal effectiveness. A key challenge for STT-RAM in in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2022-08
Main Authors: Seyedfaraji, Saeed, Daryani, Javad Talafy, Sabry Aly, Mohamed M, Rehman, Semeen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Approximation
Circuit reliability
Magnetic properties
Mathematical analysis
Radiation effects
Random access memory
Robustness
Soft errors
Switching
Tunnel junctions
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Spin Transfer Torque Random Access Memory (STT-RAM) has garnered interest due to its various characteristics such as non-volatility, low leakage power, high density. Its magnetic properties have a vital role in STT switching operations through thermal effectiveness. A key challenge for STT-RAM in industrial adaptation is the high write energy and latency. In this paper, we overcome this challenge by exploiting the stochastic switching activity of STT-RAM cells and, in tandem, with circuit-level approximation. We enforce the robustness of our technique by analyzing the vulnerability of write operation against radiation-induced soft errors and applying a low-cost improvement. Due to serious reliability challenges in nanometer-scale technology, the robustness of the proposed circuit is also analyzed in the presence of CMOS and magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) process variation. Compared to the state-of-the-art, we achieved 33.04% and 5.47% lower STT-RAM write energy and latency, respectively, with a 3.7% area overhead, for memory-centric applications.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2208.07838