Method and circuit for optimizing bit line power consumption

• US 8,947,911 B1
• Filed: 11/07/2013
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Microelectronics Corporation
• Original Assignee: United Microelectronics Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Hsi-Wen
• Primary Examiner(s): Lam, David
• Application Number:
  US14/074,478
• Time in Patent Office: 453 Days
• Field of Search: 365/154, 365/226, 365/189.07, 365/236, 365/204
• US Class Current: 365/154
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/419 Read-write [R-W] circuits

Abstract

A bit line power implementing circuit is provided, the bit line power implementing circuit has a bit line discharge oscillator to convert the supply voltage to a pulse; a decoder coupled to the bit line discharge oscillator to decode the pulse, and providing a first pulse with a first frequency and a second pulse with a second frequency; a first and a second counters, coupled to the decoder, and receiving the first and the second pulses respectively, and outputting a signal proportional to an average and a minimum read currents respectively; a divider outputting a read current ratio of the average read current to the minimum read current; and a multiplier for multiplying the supply voltage the read current ratio to output a bit line power consumption corresponding to the supply voltage.

Claims

1. A bit line power implementing circuit for memory cells having an average and a worst threshold voltages, comprising:

a bit line discharge oscillator, receiving a supply voltage and converting the supply voltage to a pulse;

a decoder, coupled to the bit line discharge oscillator to decode the pulse, and providing a first pulse with a first frequency and a second pulse with a second frequency;

a first counter, coupled to the decoder, and receiving the first pulse with the first frequency, and outputting a signal proportional to the average read current;

a second counter, coupled to the decoder, and receiving the first pulse with the first frequency, and outputting signal proportional to the minimum read current;

a divider, coupled to the first and the second counters, and outputting a read current ratio of the average read current to the minimum read current; and

a multiplier, coupled to the divider to multiply the supply voltage the read current ratio to output a bit line power consumption corresponding to the supply voltage.

2. The circuit of claim 1, wherein the first pulse corresponds to an average read current related to the average threshold voltage and the second pulse corresponds to the minimum read current related to the worst threshold voltage.

3. The circuit of claim 1, wherein the bit line discharge oscillator further comprises:

a logic unit; and

a plurality of bit line discharge units, coupled to the logic unit, wherein the bit line discharge units are serially connected, an input of the first bit line discharge unit is coupled to an output of the logic unit and an output of the final bit line discharge unit is fedback to an input of the logic unit.

4. The circuit of claim 3, wherein the logic unit comprises an XOR gate.

5. The circuit of claim 3, wherein the bit line discharge unit further comprises

a memory cell having a word line and a bit line;

a buffer, coupled between the word line and an input of the bit line discharge unit;

an inverter, coupled between the bit line and an output of the bit line discharge unit;

a transistor, coupled between the bit line and the input of the bit line discharge unit, for pre-charging the bit line; and

a bit line load, coupled to the bit line.

6. The circuit of claim 5, wherein the memory cell is identical to a memory cell to be simulated.

7. The circuit of claim 6, wherein the memory cells are static random access memory (SRAM) cells.

8. A bit line power optimizing circuit for memory cells having an average and a worst threshold voltages, comprising:

a bit line discharge oscillator, receiving a supply voltage and converting the supply voltage to a pulse;

a decoder, coupled to the bit line discharge oscillator to decode the pulse, and providing a first pulse with a first frequency and a second pulse with a second frequency;

a first counter, coupled to the decoder, and receiving the first pulse with the first frequency, and outputting a signal proportional to the average read current;

a second counter, coupled to the decoder, and receiving the first pulse with the first frequency, and outputting signal proportional to the minimum read current;

a divider, coupled to the first and the second counters, and outputting a read current ratio of the average read current to the minimum read current;

a multiplier, coupled to the divider to multiply the supply voltage the read current ratio to output a bit line power consumption corresponding to the supply voltage;

a power source, providing the supply voltage to the bit line discharge oscillator;

a first register, coupled to the multiplier, for storing a previous bit line power consumption;

a comparator, coupled to the multiplier and the first register, receiving a current bit line power consumption, for comparing the current and the previous bit line power consumptions, and outputting a comparison result;

a second register, for storing the supply voltage; and

an operating unit, coupled to the second register and the comparator, for receiving the comparison result and perform an operation on the supply voltage,

wherein when the current bit line power consumption is smaller than the previous bit line power consumption, the comparison result makes the operating unit to decreases the supply voltage by a preset amount, and provide the decreased supply voltage to the power source, and

when the current bit line power consumption is larger than the previous bit line power consumption the comparison result makes the operating unit to deactivate.

9. The circuit of claim 8, wherein the first pulse corresponds to an average read current related to the average threshold voltage and the second pulse corresponds to the minimum read current related to the worst threshold voltage.

10. The circuit of claim 8, wherein the bit line discharge oscillator further comprises:

a logic unit; and

a plurality of bit line discharge units, coupled to the logic unit, wherein the bit line discharge units are serially connected, an input of the first bit line discharge unit is coupled to an output of the logic unit and an output of the final bit line discharge unit is fedback to an input of the logic unit.

11. The circuit of claim 8, wherein the logic unit comprises an XOR gate.

12. The circuit of claim 8, wherein the bit line discharge unit further comprises

a memory cell having a word line and a bit line;

a buffer, coupled between the word line and an input of the bit line discharge unit;

an inverter, coupled between the bit line and an output of the bit line discharge unit;

a transistor, coupled between the bit line and the input of the bit line discharge unit, for pre-charging the bit line; and

a bit line load, coupled to the bit line.

13. The circuit of claim 12, wherein the memory cell is identical to a memory cell to be simulated.

14. The circuit of claim 13, wherein the memory cells are static random access memory (SRAM) cells.

15. The circuit of claim 8, wherein the operating unit is an adder.

16. A bit line power optimizing method for memory cells, executed by a computing system, the bit line power optimizing method comprising:

obtaining a word line turn-on time corresponding to a worst bit among the memory cells, wherein a minimum offset voltage is satisfied during the word line turn-on time;

obtaining an average offset voltage based on the word line turn-on time, wherein the average offset voltage is a function of the supply voltage;

obtaining a bit line power consumption from the average offset voltage and the supply voltage;

plotting a diagram of the bit line power consumption versus and the supply voltage according to a condition of the manufacturing process;

obtaining a target supply voltage at a reverse point where the bit line power consumption versus is minimum; and

outputting the target supply voltage and obtaining an optimized power consumption corresponding to the target supply voltage.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the average offset voltage is further a function of the supply voltage and a threshold voltage.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the condition of the manufacturing process comprises a temperature, a threshold voltage or a combination thereof.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the memory cells are static random access memory (SRAM) cells.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the SRAM cell is a 6-transistor SRAM.