An improved STT-MRAM energy consumption simulation model

Abstract Spin-transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STT-MRAM) shows promising prospects for the next generation of embedded non-volatile memory. In this paper, an improved model for calculation of the power consumption of STT-MRAM is proposed and verified. In the proposed model, the unique asymmetry properties of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) devices during STT-MRAM read and write operations are taken into account. To more comprehensively calculate the energy consumption, the impact of temperature variation on the switching property of the MTJ device is considered. A comparison with NVSim on the power calculation is presented. The results indicate that the proposed model can provide energy consumption simulation results with higher accuracy. The results of the read/write delay and the leakage power can be simultaneously provided. An analysis of the results based on the proposed model is conducted. The proposed model shows potential applications for architectural design of power grids in STT-MRAM with large scale storage capacity.