Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Amlan Ghosh

Joshua Lance Puckett

Isaac Turtletaub

Sung Hao Lin

A memory system includes a column circuit to generate a logic state of data stored in one of the memory bit cell circuits in a column in a read operation. The column circuit includes a read control circuit to cause a float control circuit to couple a read bit line to a charged evaluation output line in a read operation and cause the float control circuit to decouple the read bit line from the evaluation output line in an idle stage. Decoupling the read bit line from the charged evaluation output line reduces power lost between read operations by current leaking through read port circuits in the memory bit cell circuits to which the read bit line is coupled. The memory system may include at least one read bit line, each coupled to a respective float control circuit and a respective plurality of memory bit cell circuits in a column.

Memory systems including memory arrays employing column read circuits to control floating of column read bit lines, and related methods

A stress-based aging monitor circuit includes a reference ring oscillator circuit and a stressed ring oscillator circuit that each include transistors like the transistors in a circuit to be monitored. Transistors in the stressed ring oscillator circuit receive a negative gate to source voltage bias while the reference ring oscillator is protected from stress. To measure performance degradation due to stress-based aging, the switching frequencies of the reference ring oscillator circuit and the stressed ring oscillator circuit are compared. The reference ring oscillator and the stressed ring oscillator include stress-enhanced inverter circuits configured to amplify stress-based aging effects to increase sensitivity to the performance degradation caused by stress-based aging. Increased sensitivity increases the precision (e.g., higher resolution) of a supply voltage guard band adjustment used to compensate for the performance degradation to reduce or avoid overcompensating for the effects of stress-based aging.

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Mebane, NC, United States of America

Amlan Ghosh