Preliminary Defect Analysis of 8T SRAM Cells for In-Memory Computing Architectures

In-Memory-Computing (IMC) paradigm has been proposed as an alternative to overcome the memory wall faced by conventional von Neumann computing architectures. IMC architectures proposed today are built either from volatile or non-volatile basic memory cells, but a common feature is that all of them are prone to manufacturing defects in the same way as conventional memories. In this paper, we propose to analyze the behavior of an IMC 8T SRAM cell in presence of defects located in the read port of the cell. A model of a basic IMC memory array has been set up to simulate the behavior of the cell in the two modes of operation: memory mode and computing mode. Resistive short defects were injected into the read port and then analyzed. Preliminary results show that these defects can severely impact the behavior of the 8T SRAM in memory mode as well as computing mode. The final goal of this study is to develop effective test algorithms for these defects.