Semiconductor Memory Devices and Circuit Design

The functionality and performance of ULSI systems are increasingly dependent upon the characteristics of the memory subsystem. This course introduces students to various semiconductor memory devices: SRAM, DRAM and FLASH, that are used in today's memory subsystems. The course will cover various aspects of semiconductor memories, including basic operation principles, device design considerations, device scaling, device fabrication, memory array architecture, and addressing and readout circuits. The course will also introduce students to recent research in near- and in-memory computing using these memory technologies. The next course is this series is EE 309B, which talks about emerging non-volatile memory devices and circuit design. Pre-requisite: EE 216. Preferred: EE 316.