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  • SRAM performance sensor
    Publication . Semião, Jorge; Santos, Luis; Santos, Marcelino B.
    As technology advances and becomes increasingly smaller in scale, it makes performance and reliability a constant problem. Effects such as process variations (P), power-supply voltage variations (V), temperature variations (T) and aging (A) variations (PVTA - Process, Voltage, Temperature and Aging) are key parameters that affect circuit's performance and reliability. In today's SoC (System-on-Chip), the memory capacity is gaining importance, due to the need to store more and more data in the chips. The Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) memories are the most used in the integrated circuits, within the several types of memories. In this paper, a new performance sensor for SRAM memories is proposed. The purpose is to signalize when PVTA variations change performance above a certain threshold limit, jeopardizing memory operation and signal integrity. Sensor's sensibility to PVTA variations can be changed in run-time, which allows the sensor to be tuned during circuit's life time. Another important feature is that it can be applied locally in key locations, to monitor the online operation of the memory, or globally, by monitoring a dummy memory in pre-defined conditions.