Crosstalk-insensitive via-programming ROMs using content-aware design framework

Various code patterns of a via-programming read only memory (ROM) cause significant fluctuations in coupling noise between bitlines (BLs). This crosstalk between BLs leads to read failure in high-speed via-programmable ROMs and limits the coverage of applicable code patterns. This work presents a content-aware design framework (CADF) for via-programming ROMs to overcome the crosstalk induced read failure. The CADF ROMs employ a content-aware structure and correspondent code-structure programming algorithm to reduce the amount of coupling noise source while maintaining nonminimal BL load for crosstalk reduction. A 256-Kb conventional ROM and a 256-Kb CADF ROM were fabricated using a 0.25-[micro]m logic CMOS process. The measured results ascertain that the read induced read failure is suppressed significantly by CADF. The CADF ROM also reduced 86.2% and 94.5% in power consumption and standby current compared to the conventional ROM, respectively. Index Terms--Code patterns, crosstalk, read only memory (ROM).