A Standalone-in-Memory Voltage Crossover-Based Assist Switching Circuit for Reliable and Efficient Process Tracking Memory Vmin Improvement in Intel 18A-RibbonFET Technology

Advanced CMOS memory requires voltage biasing assist techniques to achieve low operating voltages (Vmin), which must be deactivated at higher voltages for high electric field reliability. Centralized Power Management Unit (PMU) control signals face timing synchronization and process tracking challenges when distributed across cores to activate assist circuits in various SRAM arrays, limiting their effectiveness. This restricts the power and area benefits that could be gained from an in-situ, memory circuit-assist enable/disable mechanism. To address this, we propose a novel voltage crossover-based memory assist switching circuit implemented in Intel 18A-RibbonFET technology featuring backside power delivery. Its 150X area efficiency enables independent placement within memory blocks, offering 19% array-level power and 17% performance improvements. Silicon measurements show tight variation control and strong simulation correlation.