{"id":14108,"date":"2023-08-23T16:31:21","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T13:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.weebit-nano.com\/?p=14108"},"modified":"2025-06-25T14:13:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T11:13:00","slug":"how-low-can-you-goan-inside-look-at-weebit-reram-power-consumption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.weebit-nano.com\/how-low-can-you-goan-inside-look-at-weebit-reram-power-consumption\/","title":{"rendered":"How Low Can You Go?
An Inside Look at Weebit ReRAM Power Consumption"},"content":{"rendered":"

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One of the key advantages of Weebit ReRAM<\/a> (RRAM<\/a>) is the technology\u2019s ultra-low power consumption. Some of this advantage is due to the inherent features of the technology, and some of it is due to smart design. In this article we\u2019ll explain why customers need a low power non-volatile memory (NVM<\/a>) and what makes Weebit ReRAM lower power than other types of NVM. We\u2019ll also explain a bit about some of the design techniques and levers that customers can use to adjust the power.<\/p>\n

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Why is low power consumption important?<\/strong>
\nIn our rapidly warming climate, it has become critical to minimize carbon emissions, and this includes reducing the power consumption of everything we touch \u2013 from our homes to our cars to our personal electronic devices and beyond. This is now a key consideration at the government level in many countries, and is a key consideration for institutional investors.<\/p>\n

At the practical level, for companies developing electronic products, low power consumption is often a key consideration, especially when it comes to battery operated IoT devices with Bluetooth\u00ae Low Energy or energy harvesting technology, and medical devices such as wearables and implantables.<\/p>\n

Such devices must ensure that data gathered by tiny sensors is regularly and reliably delivered, often from remote or inaccessible locations. For many of these applications, whether in medical, transportation, agriculture, or other applications, reliability can have life or death consequences. Long battery life \u2013 supporting applications that last up to 10-15 years on one battery \u2013 is critical.<\/p>\n

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Above: Various ultra-low power attributes of Weebit ReRAM lead to longer device battery life.<\/p>\n

Even for products that are plugged into power, designing for low power can be an important consideration. Developers want to avoid costly fans and heat sinks, reduce overall electricity costs, and meet consumer product energy efficiency standards including certifications like Energy Star and LEED for products and buildings, as well as EU energy efficiency labeling. Such guidelines consider not only active power consumption, but also \u2018leakage\u2019 power consumed when a product is not in use.<\/p>\n

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The Role of NVM in Reducing Power Consumption<\/strong>
\nWhile NVM may not contribute as much to system power consumption as other components such as the CPU, connectivity modules or display, reducing its impact is a key goal for an overall power management strategy.<\/p>\n

As part of a system, choosing ultra-low-power NVM helps to enable longer battery life, leading to improved energy efficiency and longer use times between recharges or battery replacements. It can also lead to better thermal management and overall greener technology. Importantly, by reducing power consumption, the memory subsystem can allocate more power to other critical components, such as the processor or display, improving overall system performance.<\/p>\n

When it comes to NVM, there are various factors that contribute to power consumption, such as the power consumed by Read and Write operations, standby power, access frequency and overall system design. Let\u2019s look at some of these in a bit more depth.<\/p>\n

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Read Power Consumption<\/strong>
\nIn an NVM \u2018Read\u2019 operation, data is retrieved from a specific memory location. This includes decoding the address to identify the specific memory location to be accessed, retrieving the data, and outputting the data for processing elsewhere in the system. The \u2018Read\u2019 operation is the most common NVM operation, happening many more times than programming the cells, and thus consuming more power.
\nThe power consumed during a Read operation depends on several key factors. One of these is the power supply used. Flash and some other types of memory require a special high voltage supply. Weebit ReRAM is able to read out of a low-voltage power supply \u2013 the same one that any system needs for basic calculations. With Weebit ReRAM, there is also no need for an always-on charge-pump \u2013 something that is needed with flash memory.<\/p>\n

Another contributing factor is cell reading voltage and current. The cell reading voltage refers to the voltage level applied to a memory cell during the read operation. Different memory technologies have specific voltage requirements for reading data from their cells, and these can vary based on the specific memory technology, fabrication process, and design considerations. With Weebit ReRAM, a Read operation is performed using only the digital core voltage (VDD), and the Read cell voltage for ReRAM is typically a few hundreds of millivolts (mV) or lower.
\nThe typical Read cell voltage requirements for other NVMs are higher, typically in the range of 1 to 3V for flash, and several hundred mV to a few volts for MRAM. Weebit ReRAM also has a dedicated \u201cread-only-mode\u201d during which program voltage can be completely shut-off.<\/p>\n

These are just a few considerations in terms of Read power consumption. Other important things that impact Read power include:<\/p>\n