On the Design and Analysis of Reliable RRAM-CMOS Hybrid Circuits

Resistive switching memories (RRAMs) are one of the most promising alternatives for nonvolatile storage and nonconventional computing systems. However, their behavior, and therefore their reliability, is limited by technology intrinsic constraints. Standard CMOS reliability analyses do not take into account RRAM-related misbehaviors. Consequently, new and more thorough characterization approaches are needed. Even more important, as RRAM is proposed to become a key piece in aerospace solutions, new radiation and temperature analyses should also be considered in reliability-oriented methodologies. This work presents a solution that completely characterizes RRAM and CMOS hybrid circuits under the combined effects of both technology and environmental error sources. The analysis strategy is based on three pillars: the definition of suitable models, the application of user-defined metrics to measure both circuit reliability and performance, and the efficient definition of the design space. These concepts are used by a powerful simulation framework, achieving automatic characterization of RRAM-based circuits by simultaneously considering multiple error sources. As a case of study, a thorough analysis of an RRAM read driver, including RRAM lifetime, circuit temperature, CMOS and RRAM variability, and radiation—both accumulated dose and single particle impacts—highlights the proposed approach capabilities.