Pilot assisted readout for passive memristor crossbars

Naous, Rawan; Zidan, Mohammed A.; Salem, Ahmed Sultan; Salama, Khaled N.

Pilot assisted readout for passive memristor crossbars

Files

1-s2.0-S0026269216300866-main.pdf (1.84 MB)

Type

Article

Authors

Naous, Rawan

Zidan, Mohammed A.

Salem, Ahmed Sultan
Salama, Khaled N.

KAUST Department

Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE) Division
Electrical Engineering Program
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
Sensors Lab

Online Publication Date

2016-06-03

Print Publication Date

2016-08

Date

2016-06-03

Abstract

The high demands for performance and energy efficiency pose significant challenges for computational systems. Memristor-based crossbar architectures are actively considered as vital rivals for the traditional solutions. Nonetheless, density and energy driven passive array structures, that lack a switching control per cell, suffer from sneak paths that limit the range of accurate operation of the crossbar array. In this paper, the crossbar array is treated as a communication channel with added distortion to represent the sneak current. Estimation techniques based on preset pilots are utilized to alleviate the distorting effects and enhance the system throughput. A two dimensional setting of these reference points leads to an accurate estimation of and compensation for the sneak paths effects. Thereby a comprehensive technique is presented that boosts the performance and accommodates functional metrics of speed, energy efficiency, accuracy and density all within a single envelope. SPICE simulations cover the data patterns dependencies, the non-linearity impact, and the crossbar distortion. It offers a further validation, from several aspects, on the reliable operation attained with the complete separation of the high and low bits regions.

Citation

Pilot assisted readout for passive memristor crossbars 2016, 54:48 Microelectronics Journal