ABSTRACT
Without a doubt, the technology’s leading devices in minimum feature size are memory products, such as the dynamic random access memory (DRAM). From the viewpoint of DRAM circuit technology, the sense amplifier has become the most important issue for high-density DRAM chips. Accessing a DRAM cell results in charge sharing between the cell capacitor and the bit-line capacitance. This charge sharing causes the bit-line voltage either to increase for a stored logic “1” or to decrease for a stored logic “0.” After the cell has been accessed, sensing occurs. Sensing is essentially the amplification of the bit-line signal or the differential voltage between the bit-lines. Sensing is necessary to properly read the cell data and refresh the cells. The sensing noise is directly related to the DRAM refresh time, which is a key factor for determining the performance of the DRAM.
