A review of SRAM-based compute-in-memory circuits
Kentaro Yoshioka, Shimpei Ando, Satomi Miyagi, Yung-Chin Chen, Wenlun Zhang
Abstract
Abstract This paper presents a tutorial and review of Static Random Access Memory-based compute-in-memory (CIM) circuits, with a focus on both digital CIM (DCIM) and analog CIM (ACIM) implementations. We explore the fundamental concepts, architectures, and operational principles of CIM technology. The review compares DCIM and ACIM approaches, examining their respective advantages and challenges. DCIM offers high computational precision and process scaling benefits, while ACIM provides superior power and area efficiency, particularly for medium-precision applications. We analyze various ACIM implementations, including current-based, time-based, and charge-based approaches, with a detailed look at charge-based ACIMs. The paper also discusses emerging hybrid CIM architectures that combine DCIM and ACIM to leverage the strengths of both approaches.