On-chip data strobe transmission with short-circuit current protection scheme for dynamic random access memory

This Letter proposes an on-chip data strobe transmission circuit for dynamic random access memory (DRAM). The on-chip differential repeaters with cross-coupled latches are adopted to prevent the sampling margin reduction. A node monitoring circuit has been proposed to prevent short-circuit currents of the on-chip differential repeaters and cross-coupled latches caused by high impedance inputs. When compared with the conventional differential signalling, the proposed circuit can save the short-circuit current of 6.2 mA per a single write operation. The chip has been fabricated in 350 nm CMOS technology and the active chip area is 0.189 mm².