Charge-Domain Compute

Cross-cuts: Memory
last updated 2026-06-14
Memcapacitor Memcapacitor SRAM Compute-in-Memory SRAM Compute-in-Mem… ADC Bottleneck (analog in-memory compute) ADC Bottleneck (ana… Analog Computing Analog Computing Charge-Do…

Current-domain vs charge-domain

Two implementations

Both share the charge-domain advantage (precision, linearity, low static power); they differ on the storage element (dedicated non-volatile device vs standard volatile SRAM) and therefore on density and process complexity.

The catch

Charge-domain makes the multiply nearly free, but the result still has to be read out of the analog domain into digital — and the analog-to-digital converters do not get cheaper just because the MAC moved to the charge domain. The ADC Bottleneck (analog in-memory compute) is the binding constraint on all analog CIM, charge-domain included. Charge-domain moves the energy bottleneck from the array to the periphery; whether it removes it at scale is the open question.

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