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The impact of dynamic variability due to low-frequency fluctuations on the operation of CMOS inverters, which constitute the basic component of SRAM cell, is investigated. The experimental methodology to characterise the effect of dynamic variability in a CMOS inverter is first established based on fast I–V measurements of the load current following the application of a ramp input voltage V in(t). It is shown that, for small ramp rise times, the load current characteristics I DD(V in) exhibit a huge sweep-to-sweep dispersion due to low-frequency noise. The impact of such dynamic variability sources on the inverter's output characteristics V out(V in) is finally demonstrated, revealing a 20% noise margin reduction for the smallest inverter cell.
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