A sub-0.5V charge pump circuit for resistive RAM (ReRAM) enabled low supply voltage nonvolatile logics and nonvoaltile processors

Many processors that use energy harvesting devices for low-power computing operations and zero-standby-current power-off storage require embedded nonvolatile memory (eNVM) devices and nonvolatile logics (nvLogics) with low-voltage capability. However, conventional eNVMs and nvLogics are unable to perform low-voltage write operations due to a failure on the part of on-chip charge-pump circuits to provide the high write voltage and write current required by NVM devices under low supply voltage (VDD). This study developed hybrid-boost-voltage (HBV) and hybrid-device (HD) schemes for a single-supply charge pump to enable low-VDD operations with sufficient voltage and current for the write operation of ReRAM-based eNVM and nvLogics. A HBV-HD CP fabricated in a 65nm testchip achieved VDDmin ofless than 0.5V.