Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering (한국정보통신학회논문지)

The Korea Institute of Information and Commucation Engineering (한국정보통신학회)
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Design of Low-Noise and High-Reliability Differential Paired eFuse OTP Memory

저잡음 · 고신뢰성 Differential Paired eFuse OTP 메모리 설계

  • Kim, Min-Sung (Department of Electronic Engineering, Changwon University) ;
  • Jin, Liyan (Department of Electronic Engineering, Changwon University) ;
  • Hao, Wenchao (Department of Electronic Engineering, Changwon University) ;
  • Ha, Pan-Bong (Department of Electronic Engineering, Changwon University) ;
  • Kim, Young-Hee (Department of Electronic Engineering, Changwon University)
  • Received : 2013.08.26
  • Accepted : 2013.09.24
  • Published : 2013.10.31
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Abstract

In this paper, an IRD (internal read data) circuit preventing the reentry into the read mode while keeping the read-out DOUT datum at power-up even if noise such as glitches occurs at signal ports such as an input signal port RD (read) when a power IC is on, is proposed. Also, a pulsed WL (word line) driving method is used to prevent a DC current of several tens of micro amperes from flowing into the read transistor of a differential paired eFuse OTP cell. Thus, reliability is secured by preventing non-blown eFuse links from being blown by the EM (electro-migration). Furthermore, a compared output between a programmed datum and a read-out datum is outputted to the PFb (pass fail bar) pin while performing a sensing margin test with a variable pull-up load in consideration of resistance variation of a programmed eFuse in the program-verify-read mode. The layout size of the 8-bit eFuse OTP IP with a $0.18{\mu}m$ process is $189.625{\mu}m{\times}138.850{\mu}m(=0.0263mm^2)$.

본 논문에서는 power IC에서 파워가 ON되어있는 동안 입력 신호인 RD(Read) 신호 포트에 glitch와 같은 신호 잡음이 발생하더라도 파워-업(power-up)시 readout된 DOUT 데이터를 유지하면서 다시 읽기 모드로 재진입하지 못하도록 막아주는 IRD(Internal Read Data) 회로를 제안하였다. 그리고 pulsed WL(Word-Line) 구동방식을 사용하여 differential paird eFuse OTP 셀의 read 트랜지스터에 수 십 ${\mu}A$의 DC 전류가 흐르는 것을 방지하여 blowing 안된 eFuse 링크가 EM(Electro-Migration)에 의해 blowing되는 것을 막아주어 신뢰성을 확보하였다. 또한 program-verify-read 모드에서 프로그램된 eFuse 저항의 변동을 고려하여 가변 풀-업 부하(variable pull-up load)를 갖는 센싱 마진 테스트 기능을 수행하는 동시에 프로그램 데이터와 read 데이터를 비교하여 PFb(pass fail bar) 핀으로 비교 결과를 출력하는 회로를 설계하였다. $0.18{\mu}m$ 공정을 이용하여 설계된 8-비트 eFuse OTP IP의 레이아웃 면적은 $189.625{\mu}m{\times}138.850{\mu}m(=0.0263mm^2)$이다.

Keywords

References

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