Design of resistive non-volatile memories for rad-hard applications

In this paper a rad-hard design flow for emerging non-volatile memories is discussed. The always growing demand of memory performances is driving to an increasing investigation in new technologies; many emerging technological solutions have been introduced and, as all of them are still an embryonic stage, it is necessary to improve and optimize their characterization process in order to achieve as soon as possible the reliability necessary to stand out in the market. Among them, the resistive memories have recently raised a significant interest for space and high-energy applications. In this scenario, hence, it may be effective and crucial to design an architecture capable to manage different demands like the use in radiation environment. At this purpose, a radiation-hardened design of a 1Mbit resistive non-volatile RAM providing full bit DMA access is proposed. A basic RRAM cell and its structure are explained and the radiation hardened architecture that includes a redundant differential approach presented.