Ultrahigh-speed logic gate family with Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb Josephson junctions

The modified variable threshold logic (MVTL) OR gate has a wide operating margin and occupies a small area, so that a gate family using this OR gate is suitable for LSI logic circuits. This paper describes the design, fabrication process, and evaluation of the MVTL gate family. The gate family is composed of OR, AND, and 2/3 MAJORITY gates. The gates were made with all refractory material including Nb/ Al-AlOx/Nb junctions and Mo resistors, and they were patterned by using a reactive ion etching (RIE) technique. The logic delay of the gate was measured with a Josephson sampler. The minimum delays for OR, AND, and 2/3 MAJORITY gates were 5.6, 16, and 21 ps/gate, respectively.     

Switching delay of a nonlatching Josephson gate evaluated from ringoscillator operation

The authors present the experimental results for the switching delay of a dc-biased nonlatching Josephson gate (a coupled-superconducting quantum interference device gate). The measurement is executed by the use of a ring oscillator (RO) method. A frequency-to-voltage converter is used to evaluate the oscillation frequency of the RO. The circuit is designed and fabricated using a 2.5-kA/cm² Nb/AlO_x/Nb Josephson junction technology. The results show the minimum switching delay of 18 ps     

Feasibility of an ultra-high-speed Josephson multiplier

The authors discuss the design, fabrication, and evaluation of a Josephson multiplier model featuring all-niobium junctions. They designed a 16-bit /spl times/ 16-bit parallel multiplier and fabricated its critical path model consisting of 828 gates. The circuit was designed using modified variable threshold logic (MVTL) OR-gates and single-junction AND gates. These gates consisted of Nb/AlO/SUB x//Nb Josephson junctions, Nb wiring, Mo resistors, and SiO/SUB 2/ insulators. Both the minimum linewidth and junction diameter were 2.5 /spl mu/m. The observed multiplication time using the critical path model was 1.1 ns. The propagation delay due to the interconnecting wiring was estimated to be 0.20 ns, and the longest path of the circuit consisted of 103 gates. Thus the average gate delay in the circuit was estimated to be 8.7 ps/gate. These results point to the possibility of an ultra high-speed multiplier, about five times faster than any semiconductor device.     

Niobium-based integrated circuit technologies

Metallurgical and electrical properties of Nb and NbN films for use as Josephson junction electrodes and wiring layers are investigated. The crystallographic and superconducting properties necessary for Nb-based integrated circuit processes are clarified. Tunnel barrier structures of NbN-Nb oxide-NbN (Pb alloy) and Nb-Al oxide-Nb Josephson junctions have been analyzed and correlated with junction characteristics and critical current uniformity. It was found that the surface structure of a base electrode should be smooth to ensure that Josephson junctions have low leakage current and uniform critical current distribution. New types of Josephson junctions with artificial tunnel barriers such as amorphous Si or Mg oxide are reviewed. A variety of Josephson junction structures or processes have been developed for Nb-based Josephson integrated circuits in order to improve circuit performance. These include junction miniaturization, planarization, and stacked junction structures. These structures are mainly intended for Nb-Al oxide-Nb Josephson circuits. The Nb-Al oxide-Nb Josephson junction technology is by far the most advanced and has been used in logic and memory circuits, for example a 4-bit×4-bit parallel multiplier, a Josephson logic gate array, a 16-bit arithmetic logic unit, a 4-bit microprocessor, and 1-kb and 4-kb memory circuits     

Experimental operation of an RS flip-flop composed of nonlatchingJosephson gates

We present the experimental implementation of an RS flip-flop (RS-FF) composed of dc-biased coupled-SQUID (C-SQUID) gates. The C-SQUID gate is a combination of a single-junction SQUID and a double-junction SQUID. This gate utilizes nonhysteretic Josephson junctions and it is operated in nonlatching mode with dc-biasing. Several logical functions are able to be realized with a C-SQUID gate by adjusting the input bias and the input signal levels. The speed performance of the gate is evaluated by simulation for ring oscillators, and the minimum switching delay of 6.5 ps/stage is obtained under Josephson critical current density of 10 kA/cm². We have fabricated the RS-FF composed of two C-SQUID NOR gates. The circuit is integrated using a Nb/AlO_x /Nb junction technology and its operation is demonstrated experimentally     

A 4.2-ps logic gate using new Pb-alloy Josephson IC technology

A high-speed logic gate is attained using new Pb-alloy Josephson IC technology. Three design and fabrication techniques are developed for small Ijscattering. They are a gate pattern design rule using junctions with identical geometrical construction, a double-layer resist stencil technique, and RF oxidation in CO2plasma. A high-gain direct-coupled Josephson logic (HDCL) gate cascade chain is experimentally fabricated using a new 2-µm process developed from this technology. At a high current density of 10 kA/cm², high quality junctions are obtained with a small Ijscattering of &sigma = 6.8 percent. A very fast switching speed of 4.2 ps/gate is achieved.     

A 4-bit/spl times/4-bit multiplier and 3-bit counter in Josephson threshold logic

A fast Josephson circuit using a threshold logic is developed for application to a multiplier and a binary counter. The former is a typical combinational circuit and the latter is a typical sequential circuit. The junction and barrier materials used were Nb-AlO/SUB X/-Nb. An optimized asymmetric two-junction interferometer maximized the operating margin of the threshold gate. A speed-up junction was introduced to decrease the switching delay without sacrificing the operating margin. A dumping resistor, which was inserted parallel to the input signal line of the threshold gate between its two terminals, decreased the reflection of the input signal caused by the gate inductance, thereby ensuring the margin and speed. To demonstrate the high-speed possibility of the Josephson threshold logic, a high-speed experiment for the circuits was performed. The multiplier demonstrated 210-ps operation.     

Josephson shift registers

A review of Josephson shift-register circuits that have been designed, fabricated, or tested is presented with emphasis on work in the 1980s. Operating speed is most important, since it often limits system performance. Older designs used square-wave clocks, but most modern designs use offset sine waves, with either two or three phases. Operating margins and gate bias uniformity are key concerns. The fastest measured Josephson shift register operated at 2.3 GHz, which compares well with a GaAs shift register that consumes 250 times more power. The difficulties of high-speed testing have prevented many Josephson shift registers from being operated at their highest speeds. Computer simulations suggest that 30-GHz operation is possible with current Nb/Al ₂O₃/Nb technology. Junctions with critical current densities near 10 kA/cm² would make 100-GHz shift registers feasible     

Minimum-width control-current pulse for Josephson logic gates

For a given level of overdrive, there exists a minimum-width control-current pulse that must be applied to switch a Josephson logic gate. Determination of this minimum pulsewidth is useful in setting limits on the speed of various Josephson circuit configurations and also in finding the narrowest pulse that a Josephson-junction gate can detect when it is employed as a pulse detector. The minimum control-current pulsewidth is a strong function of the overdrive factor of the control current. It scales as(C/I_{m})^{1/2}, where Imis the junction critical current, andCis the capacitance, and is on the order of 10 ps for Josephson quantum interferometers in 5-µm technology. Computer simulations have been done to find the dependence of minimum control-current pulsewidths on overdrive magnitude for a single-junction gate and for two- and three-junction interferometers. Analytic expressions of the minimum control-current pulsewidth that are in good agreement with simulations have been obtained for these three types of Josephson logic gates.     

A fully operational 1 kb variable threshold Josephson RAM

The first fully operational Josephson RAM in LSI level integration is described. The chip is designed as a 4 b× 256-word data RAM unit for a 4 b Josephson computer. A variable-threshold memory cell and the related memory architecture are used. They are so simple in structure that the fabrication can be accomplished using current Josephson junction technology. A directly coupled driver gate for a resistive bit line applies an accurate and stable driving current to the memory cell array. The RAM chip is fabricated with a 3 μm Nb/Al-oxide/Nb junction technology. For obtaining reliable RAM chips, a plasma-enhanced CVD (chemical-vapor-deposited) silicon dioxide layer is introduced for insulation between the ground plane and the base electrode. The thermal uniformity of the wafer is improved during the oxidation process for making a tunnel barrier. Installing this RAM chip together with a Josephson processor permitted the functions of a computer, including a memory access, to be successfully demonstrated. The access time was found to be 500-520 ps by measuring a test chip     

Josephson-logic devices and circuits

A review of the recent advances in Josephson logic devices and circuits is presented. The Josephson junction is almost an ideal digital switch exhibiting very abrupt threshold, ultra-high switching speeds (∼10 ps), and very low power dissipation (∼1 µW). Logic devices based on the Josephson junctions combine Josephson junctions with other circuit elements to provide isolation to the input signals as well as to provide higher gain than a single junction. These devices can be classified into two groups, the first group uses magnetically coupled SQUID's (Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices) to provide isolation, whereas the second group of circuits utilizes the high-resistance state of a Josephson junction in series with the signal input to provide isolation. Logic circuits based on these two isolation Schemes are compared. In both schemes, higher gains are achieved by the use of either multiple Josephson junctions in parallel or a buffer stage. The buffer stage is a Current-Injection Device (CID) which provides gain and the AND function between the two signal currents injected into it. Some of the unique features of Josephson logic circuits such as terminated superconducting transmission lines, ac power supply, Timed Inverter, and Latch circuits are also examined. The dynamic behavior of the Josephson junctions is modeled by very simple equivalent circuits. The computer simulations based on these models are compared with experiments and found to be in excellent agreement. A family of experimental logic circuits has been designed and experimentally tested using 2.5-µm minimum feature size. These circuits have fully loaded logic delays of about 40 ps/gate and power dissipation of about 4 µW/gate. The gate delays and power-delay products are compared with leading semiconductor technologies.     

Testing a 4-b shift register at 11 GHz

A 4-bit superconducting shift register based on edge triggered gates has been tested up to 11 GHz with two-phase offset sinewave clocks. The edge triggered gates are made by serial connection of a Josephson junction (JJ) and a modified variable threshold gate, fabricated by a Nb/AlO_x/Nb process     

Self-biasing Josephson logic circuits

A self-biasing network for Josephson logic circuits that permits wide variations in junction critical currents, resistors, and power supply voltage is presented. The self-biasing network automatically switches resistors in or out to make the gate currents track with the critical currents of the logic gates. Results of Monte Carlo statistical analyses of the tolerances of this scheme are presented as a function of amount of correlation between the critical currents of the logic device and the biasing network, amount of systematic variation on a chip, and number of junctions used in the biasing network. Results indicate that almost a factor of two larger variations in the critical currents of the Josephson junctions can be tolerated when the self-biasing network is used, without adverse impact on the gate delays and the power dissipation.     

Complementary Josephson-junction circuit: a fast flip-flop and logic gate

A logic circuit with Josephson junctions has been developed that operates as logic gate or as a flip-flop. Despite the latching-type characteristic of the Josephson tunnel junction, the complementary logic circuit is nonlatching. The test circuit has a power dissipation of 16.4 ?W and a signal risetime of approximately 60 ps has been measured.     

A 4-bit Josephson computer ETL-JC1

The first computer operation of a 4-b Josephson computer, ETL-JC1 (Electrotechnical Laboratory-Josephson Computer no.1), designed using a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture is described. In the experiment, the computer functions have been verified by executing a computer program installed in a Josephson read-only memory (ROM) at a low repetition frequency. To construct the computer, four Josephson LSI chips including a register and arithmetic logic unit, a sequence control unit, an instruction 1280-b ROM unit, and a 1-kb RAM unit were connected on a nonmagnetic printed circuit board. The Josephson LSI chips were fabricated using Nb/AlO_x/Nb tunnel junctions with 3-μm design rules. The total power dissipation was 6.2 mW in the total circuit, which consists of 22000 junctions including regulators on every chip. On the basis of measurements of the delay times of the logic gates and the access times of the memory chips, it is expected that the program execution in the critical path can be carried out with a single central processing unit in less than 1 ns, resulting in 1 giga-instructions per second (GIPS)     

Josephson macrocell array

A modified variable-threshold logic (MVTL) gate for use in Josephson LSI circuits is considered. A 7.6 K-gate Josephison macrocell array whose functions can be changed by wiring changing has been developed. Automatic design problems, such as AC powering and small fan-outs, are solved by constructing the macrocell with a three-phase powering system and developing a magnetically coupled unit cell. The chip contains 21440 Josephson junctions on a 5 mm×5 mm die and is fabricated using 1.5 μm all-niobium Josephson techniques. An average delay of 5.3 ps/gate in the macrocell and a total chip power consumption of 23 mW have been obtained     

Extended phase-mode logic-circuits with resistive ground contact

We present extended phase-mode logic (EPL) circuits which have resistive ground contact. The phase-mode logic utilizes magnetic flux-transfer and is based on pulse propagation, i.e., it is one of single flux quantum systems. The proposed logic circuits of the EPL family can have the same ground reference, contrary to the original phase-mode circuits, Therefore, it is possible to couple different EPL elements on a single ground reference. Basic components of the EPL family (a phase-conserving branch, a phase-distributing branch, and an INHIBIT gate controlled by fluxon) are presented. The phase-distributing branch and the INHIBIT gate have been fabricated using a Nb/AlO_x /Nb Josephson-junction technology and tested. A fan-in operation of the phase-distributing branch and the first full operation of the INHIBIT gate are successfully demonstrated. As an example of the EPL logic circuits consisting of plural gates on a single ground reference, a simulation of a 2-bit full adder circuit is also presented     

Sub-100 ps experimental Josephson interferometer logic gates

Josephson interferometer logic gates have been operated experimentally with an average logic delay of 55 ps per stage. The gates operated with an AC power supply in a latching mode with a reset capability consistent with a machine cycle time less than 5 ns. OR, AND, and INVERT functions and fanout capability were demonstrated. Dissipation per gate was about 2.0 /spl mu/W.     

MAIL-a new Josephson logic family

A novel family of Josephson logic circuits called magnetically coupled asymmetric interferometer logic (MAIL) has been designed. The basic MAIL device is an asymmetric two-Josephson-junction interferometer. Computer simulations of OR/AND MAIL circuits using 2.5 /spl mu/m Pb/Pb technology device models indicate an unloaded logic-gate delay of approximately 25 ps and a power dissipation of 5 /spl mu/W/gate. Thus, the power-delay product is only 125 Atto J. Different MAIL logic gates have been tested experimentally, and preliminary results are presented.     

A 30-ps Josephson current injection logic (CIL)

A family of novel Josephson logic circuits called current injection logic (CIL) is presented. In contrast to previous approaches, it combines magnetically coupled interferometers with novel nonlinear injection gates to obtain ultra-fast logic speeds, wide margins, and greater fan-in and fan-out capabilities. Fastest logic delay of 30 ps/gate is measured averaged over two- and four-input OR and AND gates (average fan-in=4.5, average fan-out=2.5) fabricated using 2.5 /spl mu/m nominal design rules. The average power dissipation of these experimental circuits is 6 /spl mu/W/gate. An unprecedented logic delay of 13 ps/stage is measured on a chain of two-input OR gates, and the logic delay for a circuit consisting of two two-input OR gates, the outputs of which are `AND'ed, is measured at 26 ps. The experimental results are found to be in excellent agreement with delay estimates based upon computer simulations.