SRAM DEVICE

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide an SRAM device which can set a threshold voltage of a selection transistor appropriate for all the cells on an SRAM array. The SRAM device uses a field effect transistor as the selection transistor, the field effect transistor comprising a gate to drive the transistor and a terminal to control a threshold voltage, which are electrically separated from each other, wherein the SRAM device comprises a circuit which gradually increases, on a reading operation, a voltage supplied to the terminal to control the threshold of the selection transistor from a voltage at the start of the reading.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a static random access memory (SRAM) device.

BACKGROUND ART

Today, in conventional SRAM devices, 6-transistor CMOS SRAM cells are configured using planar metal-oxide-silicon (MOS) field effect transistors.

However, miniaturization of the device dimensions, which is performed with the aim of performance improvement such as integration density and operation speed, increases variation in the characteristics of the device. The variation obviously affects the operation stability of the SRAM. That is, the performances of the respective devices deviate randomly from the design target, so that mismatch occurs and bistability, which is indispensable for memory retention, is degraded. The variation in the device characteristics may eventually lead to malfunction, so that the yield will be lowered in the production process and reliability of the information systems will be lowered.

As an index for evaluating bistability, noise margin can be employed. The noise margin is defined as the maximum voltage of the noise amplitude which is allowed to be superposed on memory nodes. The noise margin for a read operation, a read margin, is the most difficult to ensure sufficiently in the read operation. The above-mentioned mismatch between the devices reduces the read margin. Therefore, the SRAM device is designed so that the noise margin becomes as large as possible. This ensures the noise margin even when the variation in the performance of the device becomes large in the production process.

This read margin is essentially in a trade-off relationship with a read current which determines a read speed. That is, a cell with a larger read margin has a slower read speed, while a cell with a faster read speed has a smaller read margin. This is because a selection transistor or pass gate connecting to a node holding a potential corresponding to the logic ‘0’ is the cause of the trade-off relationship.

This trade-off relationship will dominate a distribution of the read margin and the read current as reducing an operating voltage of the SRAM. It is because, the overdrive voltage approaches the magnitude of threshold-voltage variation of the selection transistor by reducing a power supply voltage, where some selection transistors turn on while others not. In other words, a read current may be varied by orders of magnitude. As a result, cells which cannot be read in a practical time period but have a larger noise margin and cells which can be read at high speed but has a smaller noise margin are concurrently present in the same array.

In Patent Documents 1 to 3, there are disclosed SRAM devices which use a four-terminal double gate field effect transistor, of which two gates of the double gate field effect transistor are separated from each other, as the selection transistor. These SRAM devices can adjust a threshold voltage of the selection transistor in order to increase the respective noise margins either in the read or write operation. However, there is still the trade-off relationship between the noise margin and the read speed in the read operation.

Accordingly, determining the operation speed based on a cell with the highest read speed results in the cells which cannot be read, while determining the read speed based on a cell with the highest stability results in a significant decrease in the speed.

Patent Document 1: JP 2007-20110

Patent Document 2: U.S. Pat. No. 7,511,989

Patent Document 3: WO 2008/114716

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

Problem to be Solved by the Invention

The present invention has been made to address the above-mentioned problems, and an object is to provide an SRAM device which can set a threshold voltage of a selection transistor appropriate for all the cells on an SRAM array.

Means for Solving the Problems

The above-mentioned problems will be solved by an SRAM device as follows.

(1) The SRAM device using a field effect transistor as a selection transistor, the field effect transistor comprising a gate to drive the transistor and a terminal to control a threshold voltage, which are electrically separated from each other, wherein the SRAM device comprises a circuit which gradually increases, on a reading operation, a voltage supplied to the terminal to control the threshold voltage of the selection transistor from a voltage at the start of the reading.

(2) The SRAM device according to (1), further comprising a circuit which detects the completion of the reading, and a circuit which returns, on the reading operation, the voltage supplied to the terminal to control the threshold voltage of the selection transistor, that has been gradually increased, to the voltage at the start of the reading, when the circuit which detects the completion of the reading detects the read completion.

(3) The SRAM device according to (2), wherein the circuit which detects the completion of the reading is configured by a circuit which amplifies a potential difference of a bit line pair and a circuit which flips an output signal when the result, amplified potential difference, exceeds a certain threshold.

(4) The SRAM device according to (3), wherein the circuit which flips the output signal when the result exceeds a certain threshold is configured by an exclusive OR gate.

(5) The SRAM device according to (3) or (4), wherein the circuit which amplifies the potential difference of the bit line pair is configured by a differential amplifier provided with loads, differential-pair transistors, an output reset switch, and a current source to fix an output common-mode level.

(6) The SRAM device according to any one of (3) to (5), wherein the certain threshold is designed to be a logic threshold of a logic gate which provides an exclusive OR.

(7) The SRAM device according to any one of (1) to (6), wherein the terminal to control the threshold voltage of the selection transistor is connected to wires arranged in the column direction parallel with the bit line.

(8) The SRAM device according to any one of (1) to (7), wherein a signal potential of a word line is adjusted so as to reduce leakage current which flows through the bit line and cells belonging to rows without being selected.

(9) The SRAM device according to any one of (1) to (8), further comprising, on each row, a circuit which determines the signal potential suitable to an operation of a corresponding row according to a row selection signal of a row decoder, and outputs the signal potential to the word line.

(10) The SRAM device according to any one of (1) to (9), wherein the selection transistor is configured by a four-terminal double gate field effect transistor of which two gates on both sides of a standing semiconductor thin plate are insulated from each other.

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION

An SRAM device according to the present invention can set an optimal threshold voltage for a selection transistor of each cell during a read operation of a cell without affecting other cells. Therefore, it can always maintain a read margin and read speed at optimal values, compensate for a random variation of the device, and resultantly obtain the SRAM device which can perform the read operation at the high speed and stability.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a figure schematically illustrating a configuration of a four-terminal double gate field effect transistor;

FIG. 2 is symbols illustrating the four-terminal double gate field effect transistor in a circuit diagram;

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of an SRAM cell which comprises the four-terminal double gate field effect transistor as a selection transistor;

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of an SRAM device, in which the SRAM cell shown in FIG. 3 is applied, according to a first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram specifically illustrating a part of the SRAM device shown in FIG. 4, corresponding to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a figure illustrating a voltage control algorithm of a Vt-Ctrl line for operating the SRAM device shown in FIGS. 4 and 5;

FIG. 7 is an example of a timing chart when the SRAM device shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 operates;

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram specifically illustrating a part of the SRAM device shown in FIG. 4, corresponding to a second embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a figure illustrating a configuration of a sense amplifier shown in a third embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a figure schematically illustrating a transient response of the sense amplifier shown in FIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is a figure illustrating a WL driver 401 or a level shifter included therein, shown in a fourth embodiment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a figure schematically illustrating a device structure of a four-terminal double gate field effect transistor, of which two gates are insulated from each other, which constitutes an SRAM cell. Reference numeral 100 in FIG. 1 represents a Silicon On Insulator (SOI) layer of an SOI wafer which is formed into a standing thin plate. Reference numerals 101 and 102 represent a source electrode and a drain electrode which are highly doped with an impurity. Reference numerals 103 and 104 represent a first gate electrode and a gate insulation film. Reference numerals 105 and 106 represent a second gate electrode and a gate oxide film. Reference numeral 107 is a buried oxide (BOX) layer. Reference numeral 108 represents a semiconductor substrate layer. The first gate electrode and the second gate electrode are electrically separated and placed on opposite surfaces of a fine semiconductor thin plate which is standing.

Further, it is known that a device formed from the bulk wafer, without an SOI structure, realizes the same function as that of the device shown in FIG. 1, where 104 and 108 are formed from the identical silicon layer and 107 is deposited. Therefore, the present invention can be similarly applied on a device which is created from such a bulk wafer.

When the first gate electrode 103 of the four-terminal double gate field effect transistor is used as a signal input gate and the second gate electrode 105 is used as a bias voltage input gate, a threshold voltage on the signal input gate of the transistor can be changed by an input voltage of the bias voltage input gate. As a result, a similar effect to the body bias effect in a bulk planar MOS can be attained. In this case, unlike the case of the bulk planar MOS, when an integrated circuit is configured with the four-terminal double gate field effect transistors, the threshold voltages of the respective devices can be controlled independently.

FIG. 2 shows symbols of the four-terminal double gate field effect transistor. A device 200 represents an n-channel field effect transistor. A device 205 represents a p-channel field effect transistor. The terminals of the n-channel field effect transistor 200 consist of a source terminal 201, a drain terminal 202, a first gate terminal 203, and a second gate terminal 204. The terminals of the p-channel field effect transistor 205 consist of a source terminal 206, a drain terminal 207, a first gate terminal 208, and a second gate terminal 209.

First Embodiment

As described above, the four-terminal double gate field effect transistor is used as the selection transistor. Each transistor constituting flip-flops is configured with a usual double gate field effect transistor of which two gates are connected. As a result, a 6-transistor SRAM cell is configured as shown in FIG. 3.

The wires Vt-Ctrl from the threshold voltage control gate of the four-terminal double gate field effect transistor are respectively connected to wires parallel to bit lines BL to BL˜. Here, each MN31 and MN32 is different from the four-terminal double gate field effect transistor, and is a usual n-channel double gate field effect transistor of which two gates are connected to each other. MP31 and MP32 are usual p-channel double gate field effect transistors. In addition, selection transistors MN33 and MN34 are the four-terminal double gate n-channel field effect transistors.

The SRAM cell shown in FIG. 3 is applied to the SRAM device shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a diagram showing a part of FIG. 4 in detail, and an algorithm shown in FIG. 6 is performed in the SRAM device. With the configuration, a basic function regarding the optimization of the read time and read noise margin for each cell, which is disclosed in the present invention, is realized. Here, reference numeral 401 represents a circuit for driving a word line WL. RDEC and CDEC respectively represent a circuit block comprising row decoders, and latches or registers for storing addresses to be input to the decoders, and a circuit block comprising column decoders, and latches or registers.

In addition, PC represents a circuit for pre-charging the bit lines BL and BL˜, and SEL represents a selector for selecting a column specified by a column address. Reference numeral 402 schematically represents a circuit block for adjusting a timing of each circuit by dividing or multiplying a clock CK and providing it with an appropriate delay, for example.

Reference numeral 403 includes reference voltage sources V_vtCtrl,0, V_vtCrl,1, V_vtCtrl,2 and a control logic circuit 501, and outputs a potential and control signal for the Vt-Ctrl line of each column. In addition, reference numeral 405 includes a sense amplifier 502 and a write circuit 503, wherein 503 outputs data to the wires D and D˜ in accordance with the logic of write enable WE or disconnects 503 itself from D and D˜. Reference numeral 404 actually supplies voltage to the Vt-Ctrl line in accordance with a signal from 403 and a column selection signal Y.

The operation of the SRAM device shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 will be described regarding the case where the read operation on a cell with the address (i, k) is followed by the write operation on a cell (j, l).

(1) A pre-charge circuit PC inputs a signal PCS to the bit lines BL to BL˜ on the basis of the clock signal CK, and performs pre-charging.

(2) Row addresses and column addresses are respectively decoded by RDEC and CDEC. For example, when the address (i, k) is specified from M×N addresses in total, WL[i] and a column selection signal Y[k] are raised after the pre-charging operation.

(3) Here, if a write enable signal WE is 0, i.e., a WE˜ signal indicates the read operation of 1, the Vt-Ctrl control logic 501 initiates its operation on the basis of the algorithm shown in FIG. 6. 501 continues to change a Vt-Ctrl [k] signal from V_vtCtrl,0 to V_vtCtrl,1, V_vtCtrl,2, V_vtCtrl,3, and so on, until it detects a signal DTCT which is an exclusive OR of an output pair D′ and D′˜ of the sense amplifier 502. Note that the voltages that come after V_vtCtrl,2 are omitted in FIG. 5.

(4) If DTCT=1 is detected on the process, Vt-Ctrl[k] is returned to V_vtCtrl,0.

(5) On the other hand, if the write operation is specified by WE=1 for (j, l), a writing reference voltage V_vtCtrl,w is selected for Vt-Ctrl[1] (note that it is omitted in FIG. 5), and the fast and stable writing is realized.

As a result, a timing chart as shown in FIG. 7 is attained. The example in FIG. 7 shows that Vt-Ctrl for the reading is completed in four steps.

Moreover, the Vt-Ctrl control logic 501 operates as follows. The reading access is performed first and, among the control logic input values, ACC turns to 1 and WE turns to 0, then 501 continues its state transition until a DTCT bit is raised. When the DTCT bit is raised, a sequential logic returns to its initial state. With a logic signal to be output along with the state transition, 404 selects Vt-CTRL.

Second Embodiment

FIG. 8 shows a method in which an inverter and a reference current source 902 instead of the logic circuit 501 shown in FIG. 5, as well as a selector 901 instead of 404, are introduced for increasing the voltage to be input into Vt-Ctrl continuously, not changing stepwise. According to this embodiment, the circuits can be simplified significantly because they are realized without the clock CK and logic circuits. That is, when the column selection signal Y is raised, the Vt-Ctrl line which has been shorted to V_vtCtrl,0 is connected to the current source 902, so that Vt-Ctrl is increased continuously. When DTCT is raised at a certain point, Vt-Ctrl is returned to V_vtCtrl,0 at that point. In addition, if WE=1, V_vtCtrl,w is selected.

Third Embodiment

FIG. 9 shows a detail of the sense amplifier represented by 502. The sense amplifier is configured by a differential amplifier consisting of loads, differential pair transistors, an output reset switch, and a current source for fixing an output common-mode potential. In this embodiment, a differential-pair sense amplifier is disclosed, as shown in FIG. 9, which is added with a tail current source driven by V_ref2. This sense amplifier is characterized by its operation that the both of output signal pair are kept fixed to the signal level around a certain common-mode output level by the operation of the tail current source until a read-out result is determined, and the noise margin for a common-mode noise or an offset voltage of the sense amplifier itself is ensured.

Hereafter, the operation of the sense amplifier will be described sequentially.

When RST=1, i.e., RST˜=0, MN1002 is turned OFF and the outputs D′ and D′˜ of the sense amplifier become VDD, so that the output is reset. When RST is turned to 0, i.e., RST˜=1, MN1002 is turned ON and a sense operation is initiated. First, immediately after the start of the read operation, the pair of BL and BL˜ substantially holds the pre-charged voltage. As such, D and D˜ are also not different from each other, so that the outputs D′ and D′˜ maintain their level around the common-mode output level.

Although BL and BL˜ begin to generate a potential difference immediately after the start of the reading, when it is still a small difference, the inherent potential difference between BL and BL˜ may be flipped by a current leakage from a non-accessed cell or the offset voltage of the sense amplifier itself. However, as shown in the conceptual diagram of a transient response of the sense amplifier in FIG. 10, the risk of performing an erroneous reading can be appropriately avoided by designing the device so that the common-mode output level is appropriately higher than a logic threshold of an exclusive OR (XOR) gate. Here, when a differential gain is represented as A_vSA and a difference between the common-mode output level and the logic threshold of the XOR gate is represented as ΔV, a noise margin NM_SA of the sense amplifier is given by 2ΔV/A_vSA.

As the potential difference between EL and BL˜ becomes sufficiently large, the potential difference between the outputs D′ and D′˜ also increases, so that the output DTCT of the exclusive OR, which indicates that data is detected, is flipped from 0 to 1 and the completion of the reading is transmitted to 403.

Fourth Embodiment

The present invention can also be carried out with a WL driver 401 having a similar configuration to a usual SRAM. However, when the potential of the Vt-Ctrl line connected to the second gates of the selection transistors MN33 and MN34 of the cell becomes high, the current leakage may increase at the selection transistor of a non-selected cell present in an accessed column and the reading may be disturbed. In this case, 401 is configured by a level shifter 701 as shown in FIG. 11, or configured by 701 and a following driver which has a low level of the logic signal lower than that of a low voltage source VSS of the cell. By using the configuration to drive WL, such a current leakage can be reduced.

REFERENCE SYMBOLS

• 100: SILICON ON INSULATOR (SOI) LAYER OF SOI WAFER WHICH IS FORMED INTO STANDING THIN PLATE
• 200: n-CHANNEL FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR
• 205: p-CHANNEL FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR
• 300: SRAM CELL
• 401: WL DRIVER
• 402: CIRCUIT BLOCK FOR TIMING ADJUSTMENT
• 403: CIRCUIT BLOCK TO GENERATE AND SUPPLY Vt-Ctrl CONTROL SIGNAL AND VOLTAGE TO BE SUPPLIED TO Vt-Ctrl LINE
• 404: CIRCUIT BLOCK TO SELECTIVELY SUPPLY Vt-Ctrl SIGNAL TO COLUMN ON THE BASIS OF COLUMN SELECTION SIGNAL AND CONTROL SIGNAL FROM 403
• 405: CIRCUIT BLOCK INCLUDING SENSE AMPLIFIER AND WRITE CIRCUIT
• 501: Vt-Ctrl VOLTAGE CONTROL CIRCUIT BLOCK
• 502: SENSE AMPLIFIER
• 503: WRITE CIRCUIT
• 701: LEVEL SHIFTER TO SUPPLY WL SIGNAL AND ITS POTENTIAL TO SRAM CELL INSTEAD OF 401
• 901: Vt-Ctrl VOLTAGE CHARGE/DISCHARGE CIRCUIT
• 902: CONSTANT CURRENT SOURCE
• WL: WORD LINE AND SIGNAL THEREOF
• BL, BL˜: BIT LINE
• MC: MEMORY CELL
• V_DD: HIGH VOLTAGE SOURCE OF CELL
• V_SS: LOW VOLTAGE SOURCE OF CELL
• Vt-Ctrl: BIAS VOLTAGE SUPPLY LINE FOR SELECTION TRANSISTOR THRESHOLD VOLTAGE CONTROL OF CELL AND SIGNAL THEREOF
• CK: CLOCK SIGNAL
• X: ROW SELECTION SIGNAL
• Y: COLUMN SELECTION SIGNAL
• ACC: ACCESS SIGNAL
• DTCT: DATA DETECTION SIGNAL
• PC: PRE-CHARGE CIRCUIT
• RDEC: ROW DECODER
• CDEC: COLUMN DECODER
• SEL: SELECTOR CIRCUIT
• DIN: WRITE DATA
• DOUT: READ DATA
• D, D˜: SELECTOR OUTPUT SIGNAL AND SENSE AMPLIFIER INPUT
• D′, D′˜: SENSE AMPLIFIER OUTPUT
• WE, WE˜: WRITE CONTROL SIGNAL AND NEGATIVE LOGIC SIGNAL THEREOF
• RST, RST˜: RESET SIGNAL AND NEGATIVE LOGIC SIGNAL THEREOF V_tCtrl,0, V_tCtrl,1, V_tCtrl,2: VOLTAGE SOURCE CONNECTING TO Vt-Ctrl LINE AND OUTPUT VOLTAGE THEREOF
• PCS: PRE-CHARGE CIRCUIT OUTPUT SIGNAL
• M, M˜: MEMORY NODE CONNECTING TO BIT LINE EL, BL˜ AND SIGNAL THEREOF
• V_G2,0, V_G2,1: LOW LEVEL POTENTIAL AND HIGH LEVEL POTENTIAL OF WL VOLTAGE SIGNAL
• V_ref1, V_ref2: REFERENCE VOLTAGE
• MN31, MN32, MN33, MN34, MN1001, MN1002, MN1003, MN1004,
• MN1101, MN1102: n-CHANNEL DEVICE
• MP31, MP32, MP33, MP34, MP1003, MP1004, MP1101, MP1102: p-CHANNEL DEVICE

Claims

1. An SRAM device using a field effect transistor as a selection transistor, the field effect transistor comprising a gate to drive the transistor and a terminal to control a threshold voltage, which are electrically separated from each other, wherein the SRAM device comprises a circuit which gradually increases, on a reading operation, a voltage supplied to the terminal to control the threshold voltage of the selection transistor from a voltage at the start of the reading.

2. The SRAM device according to claim 1, further comprising a circuit which detects the completion of the reading, and a circuit which returns, on the reading operation, the voltage supplied to the terminal to control the threshold voltage of the selection transistor, that has been gradually increased, to the voltage at the start of the reading, when the circuit which detects the completion of the reading detects the read completion.

3. The SRAM device according to claim 2, wherein the circuit which detects the completion of the reading is configured by a circuit which amplifies a potential difference of a bit line pair and a circuit which flips an output signal when the result, amplified potential difference, exceeds a certain threshold.

4. The SRAM device according to claim 3, wherein the circuit which flips the output signal when the result exceeds a certain threshold is configured by an exclusive OR gate.

5. The SRAM device according to claim 3, wherein the circuit which amplifies the potential difference of the bit line pair is configured by a differential amplifier provided with loads, differential-pair transistors, an output reset switch, and a current source to fix an output common-mode level.

6. The SRAM device according to claim 3, wherein the certain threshold is designed to be a logic threshold of a logic gate which provides an exclusive OR.

7. The SRAM device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal to control the threshold voltage of the selection transistor is connected to wires arranged in the column direction parallel with the bit line.

8. The SRAM device according to any claim 1, wherein a signal potential of a word line is adjusted so as to reduce leakage current which flows through the bit line and cells belonging to rows without being selected.

9. The SRAM device according to claim 1, further comprising, on each row, a circuit which determines the signal potential suitable to an operation of a corresponding row according to a row selection signal of a row decoder, and outputs the signal potential to the word line.

10. The SRAM device according to claim 1, wherein the selection transistor is configured by a four-terminal double gate field effect transistor of which two gates on both sides of a standing semiconductor thin plate are insulated from each other.