Low power sense amplifier based on phase transition material

A non-volatile memory comprising:

• an array of non-volatile memory cells each operative to store a respective data bit;
• control circuitry configured to select a memory cell to be read;
• and
• a sense amplifier comprising a phase transition material (PTM) configured to be in a metallic phase only while a stimulus is applied thereto, and to transition to and remain in an insulating phase when the stimulus is absent,
• wherein the sense amplifier is configured to sense the data bit stored by the memory cell selected to be read, and
• the sense amplifier includes a first diode-connected NMOS transistor having gate and drain nodes coupled to a sense amplifier input node, a second NMOS transistor having a gate node coupled to the gate node of the first diode-connected transistor, and the PTM coupled to the source node of the second NMOS transistor.

A sense amplifier comprising:

• a first NMOS transistor having a gate node coupled to an input node of the sense amplifier;
• a phase transition material (PTM), having an insulator-to-metal transition (IMT) threshold voltage and a metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) threshold voltage of a same polarity, coupled to the source node of the first NMOS transistor;
• and
• a sense amplifier output stage coupled between a drain node of the first NMOS transistor and an output node of the sense amplifier, and configured to output at the output node a sense amplifier output signal indicative of a level of a sensed signal at the input node of the sense amplifier.