Staggering are both the quantity and the variety of complementarymetal-
oxide-semiconductor CMOS memories. CMOS memories are traded
as mass-products world wide, and are diversified to satisfy nearly all
practical requirements in operational speed, power, size and environmental
tolerance. Without the outstanding speed, power and packing-density
characteristics of CMOS memories neither personal computing, nor space
exploration, nor superior defense-systems, nor many other feats of human
ingenuity could be accomplished. Electronic systems need continuous
improvements in speed performance, power consumption, packing density,
size, weight and costs; and these needs spur the rapid advancement of
CMOS memory processing and circuit technologies.
The objective of this book is to provide a systematic and comprehensive
insight which aids the understanding, practical use and progress of CMOS
memory circuits, architectures and design techniques. In the area of
semiconductor memories, since 1977 this is the first and only book that is
devoted to memory circuits. Besides filling the general void in memoryrelated
works, so far this book is the only one that covers inclusively such
modern and momentous issues in CMOS memory designs as sense
amplifiers, redundancy implementations and radiation hardening, and discloses
practical approaches to combine high performance, and reliability,
with high packing density and yield by circuit-technological and architectural
means.