A BISR Architecture for Embedded Memories

In this paper a BISR architecture for embedded memories is presented. The proposed scheme utilises a multiple bank cache-like memory for repairs. Statistical analysis is used for minimisation of the total resources required to achieve a very high fault coverage. Simulation results show that the proposed BISR scheme is characterised by high efficiency and low area overhead, even for high defect densities. On a 4 Mbit memory and an average number of 1024 memory defects per IC, a repair ratio of 100% and over 90% require less than 2% and 1% memory overhead respectively.