CMOS Interface Circuits for Spin Tunneling Junction Based Magnetic Random Access Memories
- Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)
Magneto resistive memories (MRAM) are non-volatile memories which use magnetic instead of electrical structures to store data. These memories, apart from being non-volatile, offer a possibility to achieve densities better than DRAMs and speeds faster than SRAMs. MRAMs could potentially replace all computer memory RAM technologies in use today, leading to future applications like instan-on computers and longer battery life for pervasive devices. Such rapid development was made possible due to the recent discovery of large magnetoresistance in Spin tunneling junction devices. Spin tunneling junctions (STJ) are composite structures consisting of a thin insulating layer sandwiched between two magnetic layers. This thesis research is targeted towards these spin tunneling junction based Magnetic memories. In any memory, some kind of an interface circuit is needed to read the logic states. In this thesis, four such circuits are proposed and designed for Magnetic memories (MRAM). These circuits interface to the Spin tunneling junctions and act as sense amplifiers to read their magnetic states. The physical structure and functional characteristics of these circuits are discussed in this thesis. Mismatch effects on the circuits and proper design techniques are also presented. To demonstrate the functionality of these interface structures, test circuits were designed and fabricated in TSMC 0.35μ CMOS process. Also circuits to characterize the process mismatches were fabricated and tested. These results were then used in Matlab programs to aid in design process and to predict interface circuit's yields.
- Research Organization:
- Ames Lab., Ames, IA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-Eng-82
- OSTI ID:
- 806590
- Report Number(s):
- IS-T 2148; TRN: US200304%%100
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: TH: Thesis (M.S.); Submitted to Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (US); PBD: 31 Dec 2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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