Performance evaluation of CNTFET based SRAM cell design

Abstract

Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistor (CNTFET) technology with their excellent current capabilities, ballistic transport operation and superior thermal conductivities has proved to be a very promising and superior alternative to the conventional CMOS technology. A detailed analysis and simulation based assessment of circuit performance of this technology is presented here. As figures of merit speed, power consumption and stability are considered to evaluate the performance parameters of CNTFET-Based SRAM Cells with different chiral vectors for the optimum performance. A novel performance metric, presented as “SPR,” is used to assess these figures of merit. This comprehensive metric includes a metric of low power delay product (PDP) for write operation and high stability in the operation of a memory cell. It is shown that an 8T SRAM cell provides 73% higher SPR than Dual-Chiral based 6T SRAM cell for CNT technology and 124% higher SPR than its CMOS counterpart, thus attaining superior performance. The CNTFET-based 8T SRAM cell demonstrates that it provides high stability, low delay and low power, which is better than CNTFET-based 6T SRAM cell as well as CMOS SRAM cell.