New high-speed low-power current-mode CMOS sense amplifier

A novel low-power current-mode sense amplifier for fast CMOS SRAM applications is presented. It is based on the current mode approach. The sensing speed is independent of the bit-line and data-line capacitances and a separated positive feedback technique is employed to give the circuit high-speed, low-power operation. Based on the new current-mode sense amplifier, a 32Kx8 SRAM chip was designed and fabricated. The access time is 9ns at a supply voltage of 3V and the active current is 28mA at 100MHz.