Memristor-Based Differential Local Passive Interpolation TDC

With the CMOS process technology facing bottleneck, a variety of new materials and technologies are developed to extend or beyond Moore's Law. As the latest fourth passive two-terminal device, memristor is considered to be one of the most potential replacements. It is expected to be widely applied to integrated circuits based on CMOS firstly because of the compatibility with CMOS process. Meanwhile, supply voltage reaches as lowly as 0.9V or below when entering the sub-nanometer technology, the conventional means for processing signal in the voltage domain is very difficult to achieve higher performance and stability, and the time-to-digital converter(TDC) based on time domain signal processing provides a new idea for the problem. This paper researches a memristor-based TDC in CMOS technology applying the memristor resistance-memoring, size of nanoscale and threshold characteristics. It focuses on the structure designs and the approaches how to get high-performance. Study work and innovations of the paper include following aspects:? Establishes an improved memristor threshold model and validates its validity by Hspice simulation.? Proposes a memristor-based programmable delay element. Hspice simulation proves it has a precise programmable delay and solves effectively the bottleneck of traditional CMOS digital control delay element.? Designs a memristor-based fully differential local passive interpolation(LPI) TDC through adopting memristor-based programmable delay element and fully differential delay chain, and develops a new pulse sequence calibration way. The TDC can reach sub-gate delay resolution of 2.25 ps, the maximum differential nonlinearity of 0.75 LSB, the maximum integral nonlinearity of 0.75 LSB respectively, while it is insensitive to process variation(PV).? achieves a process variation detection circuit by applying the TDC. The Monte Carlo analyses show that the TDC can complete the process variation detection task effectively with good portability and practicality.Research work including the building of the device models, the implementation of the circuit structures and the applications reflects systematically the study success of the core of the new devices and circuits, which provides a new train of thought for further study about nanometer integrated circuits.