Abstract
Non-visual fails have become an ever present complication in the IC industry. Nano probing SRAM bit cells at the inverter level allows the cell to be tested and static noise margin (SNM) to be measured. This paper explains how nano probing of a 65nm technology 6 transistor bit cell was performed and SNM dependence on supply voltage was measured for both hold and read modes. Connection to the bit cell was made at the Metal 1 layer with 7 nano probes to collect the voltage transfer curves (VTCs) of the two inverters of the cell. In this experiment, each inverter was tested by varying Vdd voltage from 1.5, 1.2, 1.0, 0.8, 0.6, 0.4 and 0.2V while collecting the VTC. The two VTCs of the cell are plotted to produce the cell’s butterfly curve from which the SNM is found graphically for each setting of Vdd.
