BiCMOS nonthreshold logic for high-speed low-power applications

New high-speed low-power BiCMOS nonthreshold logic (BNTL) circuits are presented. These circuits offers a built-in CMOS and bipolar level conversion and are suitable for reduced power supply voltage. A 4-b carry lookahead generator (CLG) circuit is designed in BNTL, ECL, and CMOS using 0.8-μm BiCMOS technology. Circuit simulations show that this new logic provides speed comparable to or better than that provided by emitter-coupled logic (ECL) for lower power dissipation     

Proposal of dual-powered superconducting logic circuits

A novel structure of high-speed Josephson logic circuits is proposed. Josephson logic gates have latching characteristics and can hold data as long as bias currents are supplied. Through effective use of these latching characteristics, logic circuits can be constructed with wide operating margins. Dual power supplies, properly phased, separately drive logic circuits divided into two groups. Logic signals are transferred from one logic group to the other or vice versa, and one group is reset into a zero voltage state when the other group is active for logic operation. For combinational circuits, the basic configuration of an astable flip-flop and a delay circuit are presented to prevent the logic circuit from `racing'. As an example of sequential circuits, a bistable flip-flop to store data is constructed without any superconducting loop.     

Full-swing BiCMOS logic circuits with complementaryemitter-follower driver configuration

Various full-swing BiCMOS logic circuits with complementary emitter-follower driver configurations are described. The performance of the circuits is demonstrated in a 1.2 μm complementary BiCMOS technology with a 6 GHz n-p-n and a 2 GHz p-n-p transistor. For the basic circuit, gate delay (fan-in=2, fan-out=1) is 366 ps and driving capability is 288 ps/pF at 4 V. Delay-power tradeoffs that depend on characteristics of the clamping diode between two base nodes of the complementary emitter-follower driver, parasitic capacitances at the two base nodes, and a technique that can be used to achieve full swing have been identified for these circuits. These circuits show leverage over the conventional BiCMOS circuit for reduced power-supply voltages     

Reliability evaluation of logic circuits using probabilistic gate models

Logic circuits built using nanoscale technologies have significant reliability limitations due to fundamental physical and manufacturing constraints of their constituent devices. This paper presents a probabilistic gate model (PGM), which relates the output probability to the error and input probabilities of an unreliable logic gate. The PGM is used to obtain computational algorithms, one being approximate and the other accurate, for the evaluation of circuit reliability. The complexity of the approximate algorithm, which does not consider dependencies among signals, increases linearly with the number of gates in a circuit. The accurate algorithm, which accounts for signal dependencies due to reconvergent fanouts and/or correlated inputs, has a worst-case complexity that is exponential in the numbers of dependent reconvergent fanouts and correlated inputs. By leveraging the fact that many large circuits consist of common logic modules, a modular approach that hierarchically decomposes a circuit into smaller modules and subsequently applies the accurate PGM algorithm to each module, is further proposed. Simulation results are presented for applications on the LGSynth91 and ISCAS85 benchmark circuits. It is shown that the modular PGM approach provides highly accurate results with a moderate computational complexity. It can further be embedded into an early design flow and is scalable for use in the reliability evaluation of large circuits.     

Monte Carlo optimization of superconducting complementary outputswitching logic circuits

The authors have previously proposed a new superconducting voltage-state logic family called complementary output switching logic (COSL). This logic family has been designed using a Monte Carlo optimization process such that circuits have a high theoretical yield at 5-10 Gb/s clock speeds in spite of existing Josephson process variations. In the present work the Monte Carlo optimization process is described and theoretical yields are calculated for the COSL 2- and 3-bit encoder circuits. The circuit simulations use 5-10-GHz sinusoidal clocks and measured global and local process variations. The 2-bit encoder results are compared to modified variable threshold logic (MVTL) circuits and demonstrate that COSL circuits should have a significantly higher theoretical yield than MVTL at 10 Gb/s. Design rules for optimal COSL circuit layouts are also given, and experimental data are presented for 2-bit encoder circuits operating at multigigahertz clock frequencies. HSPICE is used for all Monte Carlo simulations and the Josephson junction model is given in the Appendix     

Basic circuits for multi-valued sequential logic

Multi-valued logic circuits were presented as an alternative to well known binary logic. It has the potential of reducing the number of active elements and interconnection lines. More data may be transferred trough a single wire using logic signals having more than two levels. However, in spite of their potential advantages, developments in multi-valued systems are not satisfactory. In particular, it is very difficult to find circuits to implement the multilevel sequential circuits. The flip-flop is the basic building block of sequential circuits and may be used to design sequential circuits such as counter/dividers and other sequential circuits. In this regard, a new multilevel flip-flop, called the AB flip-flop, was developed and published by the authors recently (Sarica and Morgul, Electron Lett 47(5):297–298, 2011). In this paper we present a new latch and restoration circuit which improves the performance of the previously designed flip-flop circuit. It is also shown that any sequential circuit may be implemented by using this flip-flop.     

Effect of logic family on radiated emissions from digital circuits

Radiated emissions were measured for simple digital circuits designed to operate with various logic families. Emissions in the near and far field were found to depend both on the circuit layout and the choice of logic family. However, the difference in peak emissions between any two logic families was found to be independent of the circuit layout. The greatest difference in peak emissions was between high-speed 74ACT logic and low-speed 4000 CMOS logic devices, with a mean value of approximately 20 dB. Emissions from a more complex circuit were compared with the measurements on simple loop circuits. Test circuits were used to measure the propagation delay, the rise and fall times, the maximum operating frequency and the transient switching currents between two successive logic gates for each logic family. Empirical formulas have been derived that relate relative peak emissions to these switching parameters. It is hoped that these will assist designers to assess the effect of choice of logic family on electromagnetic compatibility     

Exact reliability analysis of combinational logic circuits

A novel method is presented for the exact reliability analysis of combinational logic circuits. A model is developed that allows the logic circuit to be presented by a circuit equivalent graph (CEG). The reliability is analyzed by a systematic searching of certain subgraphs from the CEG. A computer algorithm and an example are given. The method gives the exact solution to the combinational logic circuit reliability-analysis problem. This is achieved by proper gate/circuit modeling, which allows the enumeration of all redundant fault vectors in a given circuit. Due to the concept of dominance among fault vectors, the number of necessary enumerations is appreciably reduced, and thus circuits with a few tens of gates can be efficiently analyzed     

Adiabatic-CMOS/CMOS-adiabatic logic interface circuit

This paper describes the design of an adiabatic-CMOS/CMOS-adiabatic logic interface circuit for a group of low-power adiabatic logic families with a similar clocking scheme. The circuit provides interfacing between several recently proposed low-power adiabatic logic circuits and traditional digital CMOS circuits. One advantage of this design is that it is insensitive to clock overlap. With the proposed interface circuit, both adiabatic and CMOS logic circuits are able to co-exist on a single chip, taking advantage of the strengths of each approach in the design of low power systems.     

A cubical logic circuit modelling for reliability studies

A deeper insight into the problem of reliability analysis for combinational logic circuits is presented. Reliability is defined as the probability that the logic circuit correctly processes a given set of inputs. While the straightforward approach to this evaluation requires a formidable amount of computations, the presented approach is fast, easy to implement, memory efficient and applicable to circuits of any size and complexity. This is due to a new concept for logic circuit modelling, which allows the covering of all possible faults in a circuit by a relatively small number of sets of logically equivalent faults.For modelling purposes the excitations of inputs and the states of terminals in logic gates are presented in the form of a state vector. The logically equivalent state vectors are merged to form highest-order cubes which are mapped onto a gate equivalent graph (GEG). According to the connections among gates in the logic circuit this graphical model is extended to the circuit equivalent graph (CEG), which comprises the highest-order cubes for a circuit in the form of appropriate subgraphs, the so called state graphs (SGs).     

Circuit testable design and universal test sets for multiple-valued logic functions

The circuit testable realizations of multiple-valued functions are studied in this letter. First of all, it is shown that one vector detects all skew faults in multiplication modulo circuits or in addition modulo circuits, and n＋1 vectors detect all skew faults in the circuit realization of multiplevalued functions with n inputs. Secondly, min（max） bridging fault test sets with n＋2 vectors are presented for the circuit realizations of multiple-valued logic functions. Finally, a tree structure is used instead of cascade structure to reduce the delay in the circuit realization, it is shown that three vectors are sufficient to detect all single stuck-at faults in the tree structure realization of multiplevalued logic functions.     

Quaternary logic circuits in 2-μm CMOS technology

Novel quaternary logic circuits, designed in 2-μm CMOS technology, are presented. These include threshold detector circuits with an improved output voltage swing and a simple binary-to-quaternary encoder circuit. Based on these, the literal circuits, the quaternary-to-binary decoder, and the quaternary register are derived. A novel scheme for improving the power-delay product of pseudo-NMOS circuits is developed. Simulations for an inverter indicate a 66% improvement over a conventional pseudo-NMOS circuit. Noise-margin and tolerance estimations are made for the threshold detectors. To demonstrate the utility of these circuits, a quaternary sequential/storage logic array (QSLA), based on the Allen-Givone algebra has been designed and fabricated. The prototype chip occupies an area of 4.84 mm², is timed with a 2.2-MHz clock, and consumes 93 mW of power     

High-speed programmable logic arrays in ESFI SOS technology

Exploratory MOS programmable logic array (PLA's) operating up to a clock frequency of 22 MHz have been realized and successfully operated. These PLA's used dynamic logic gates and are built in epitaxial-silicon films on insulators (ESFI) silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) technology. The problems arising with the use of these dynamic gates in a two-stage logic array are discussed and different circuits are presented. The advantage of these circuits, in addition to their high speeds, is reduced power consumption, and the possibility to determine the number of feedback loops when the array is personalized. The features of the circuits are compared with each other with a complete PLA described in an earlier paper (see ibid., vol. SC-10, p.331 (1975)). The results gained from computer simulations agree reasonably well with the experimental results.     

Technology mapping for low power in logic synthesis

Traditionally, three metrics have been used to evaluate the quality of logic circuits - size, speed and testability. Consequently, synthesis techniques have strived to optimize for one or more of these metrics, resulting in a large body of research in optimal logic synthesis. As a consequence of this research, we have today very powerful techniques for synthesis targeting area and testability; and to a lesser extent, circuit speed. The last couple of years have seen the addition of another dimension in the evaluation of circuit quality - its power requirements. Low-power circuits are emerging as an important application domain, and synthesis for low power is demanding attention.

The research presented in this paper addresses one aspect of low-power synthesis. It focuses on the problem of mapping a technology-independent circuit to a technology-specific one, using gates from a given library, with power as the optimization metric. We believe that the difficulty in obtaining accurate models of power at the technology-independent level makes it difficult to optimize for power at this level, and thus feel that the technology mapping step offers the most direct way of power optimization during logic synthesis.

Several issues in modeling and measuring circuit power, as well as algorithms for technology mapping for low power are presented here. Empirically it is observed that a significant variation in the power consumption is possible just by varying the choice of gates selected. In fact, our experiments over a large set of benchmark circuits show that compared to mapping for power, mapping for area or delay can lead to circuits that have significantly higher power consumption: up to 32% higher in case of mapping for area, and up to 153% higher in case of mapping for delay.     

Fault characterization, testing considerations, and design fortestability of BiCMOS logic circuits

The results of a simulation-based fault characterization study of BiCMOS logic circuits are given. Based on the fault characterization results, the authors have studied different techniques for testing BiCMOS logic circuits. The effectiveness of stuck-at fault testing, stuck-open fault testing, delay fault testing, and current testing in achieving a high level of defect coverage is studied. A novel BiCMOS circuit structure that improves the testability of BiCMOS digital circuits is presented     

A graph based approach for reliability analysis of nano-scale VLSI logic circuits

Advances in nano-electronics VLSI manufacturing technology and the rapid downscaling of the size of logic circuits have made them more prone to errors. This has led to the need for fast circuit reliability evaluation of large logic circuits. In this paper a new method for reliability analysis of VLSI logic circuits based on a modified form of Mason’s rule is proposed. Utilizing matrix sparsity significantly increases the speed and reduces the required memory of the proposed approach. In addition, an approach is introduced to mitigate the effect of reconvergent paths. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method is scalable and runs 4× faster than previously proposed schemes.     

On the design robustness of threshold logic gates using multi-inputfloating gate MOS transistors

In this paper, the design robustness of logic circuits implemented as threshold logic gates with multi-input floating gate transistors is analyzed. The parameter variations of the basic components, namely the coupling capacitances of the floating gate MOSFETs and the sensing circuits for obtaining full logic levels, are investigated separately using appropriate array test structures. It is found that the dominant mismatch originates from the input offset voltage variations of the sensing circuits. Methods are presented for estimating the yield of a given logic circuit from the measured parameter distributions. The estimations are verified with measured data of a multiplier cell and of the encoding logic in a parallel fingerprint sensor architecture. Considerations are given for robust design of circuits based on threshold logic gates that use floating gate transistors     

BiCMOS logic testing

With the anticipated growth of BiCMOS technology for high-performance ASIC design, the issue of testing takes on great significance. This paper addresses the testing of BiCMOS logic circuits. Since many different implementations of BiCMOS gates have been proposed, four representative ones are studied. The adequacy of stuck-at, quiescent current, and delay testing are examined based on circuit level faults. It is demonstrated that a large portion of the defects cannot be detected by common stuck-at or quiescent current tests since they manifest themselves as delay faults. By using the results presented, the test methodologies and the logic families can be ranked based on fault coverage. This ranking can then be used to help decide which BiCMOS solution is proper for a given application     

Vector sets for exhaustive testing of logic circuits

(L, d)-universal sets are useful for exhaustively testing logic circuits with a large number of functional components, designed so that every functional component depends on at most d inputs. Randomized and deterministic constructions of ( L, d)-universal test sets are presented, and lower and upper bounds on the optimal sizes of such sets are proven. It is also proven that the design of an optimal exhaustive test set for an arbitrary logic circuit is an NP-complete problem     

Differential current switch logic: a low power DCVS logic family

Differential current switch logic (DCSL), a new logic family for implementing clocked CMOS circuits, has been developed. DCSL is in principle a clocked differential cascode voltage switch logic circuit (DCVS). The circuit topology outlines a generic method for reducing internal node swings in clocked DCVS logic circuits. In comparison to other forms of clocked DCVS, DCSL achieves better performance both in terms of power and speed by restricting internal voltage swings in the NMOS tree. DCSL circuits are capable of implementing high complexity high fan-in gates without compromising gate delay. Automatic lock-out of inputs on completion of evaluation is a novel feature of the circuit. Three forms of DCSL circuits have been developed with varying benefits in speed and power. SPICE simulations of circuits designed using the 1.2 μm MOSIS SCMOS process indicate a factor of two improvement in speed and power over comparable DCVS gates for moderate tree heights