Performing Logical Operations with Stimuli‐Responsive Building Blocks

Chemical logic gates can be fabricated by synthesizing molecules that have the ability to detect external stimuli (e.g., temperature or pH) and provide logical outputs. It is, however, challenging to fabricate a system that consists of many logic gates using this method: complex molecules can be difficult to synthesize and these logic gates typically cannot be integrated together. Here, we fabricated different types of logic gates by assembling a combination of different types of stimuli‐responsive hydrogels that change their size under the influence of one type of stimulus. Importantly, the preparation of these stimuli‐responsive hydrogels is widely reported and technically simple. Through designing the geometry of the systems, we fabricated the YES, NOT, OR, AND, NOR, and NAND gates. Although the hydrogels respond to different types of stimuli, their outputs are the same: a change in size of the hydrogel. Hence, we show that the logic gates can be integrated easily (e.g., by connecting an AND gate to an OR gate). In addition, we fabricated a standalone system with the size of a normal drug tablet (i.e., a “smart tablet”) that can analyze (or diagnose) different stimuli and control the release of a chemical (or drug) via the logic gates.     

Construction of a Fuzzy and Boolean Logic Gates Based on DNA

Logic gates are devices that can perform logical operations by transforming a set of inputs into a predictable single detectable output. The hybridization properties, structure, and function of nucleic acids can be used to make DNA‐based logic gates. These devices are important modules in molecular computing and biosensing. The ideal logic gate system should provide a wide selection of logical operations, and be integrable in multiple copies into more complex structures. Here we show the successful construction of a small DNA‐based logic gate complex that produces fluorescent outputs corresponding to the operation of the six Boolean logic gates AND, NAND, OR, NOR, XOR, and XNOR. The logic gate complex is shown to work also when implemented in a three‐dimensional DNA origami box structure, where it controlled the position of the lid in a closed or open position. Implementation of multiple microRNA sensitive DNA locks on one DNA origami box structure enabled fuzzy logical operation that allows biosensing of complex molecular signals. Integrating logic gates with DNA origami systems opens a vast avenue to applications in the fields of nanomedicine for diagnostics and therapeutics.     

Theoretical investigation of phase-based all-optical NOT,XOR and XNOR logic gates based on AlGaAs microring resonators

We propose and numerically verify a phase-based all-optical logic gate (NOT, XOR and XNOR) operation scheme based on cascaded AlGaAs microring resonators. Phase control in this scheme depends on cross-phase modulation in the AlGaAs microring. The realization of NOT logic depends on the π phase shift of light transmission, and this π phase shift can be naturally obtained in microring resonators in the under-coupled state. Inputting a non-return zero intensity signal as pump light, the probe light (continuous wave) will experience a different phase shift and a phase-based logical function can be realized in this process. The bandwidth and the minimum power requirement of this scheme are also discussed in detail.     

An Extended Approach for Generating Unitary Matrices for Quantum Circuits

In this paper, we do research on generating unitary matrices for quantum circuits automatically. We consider that quantum circuits are divided into six types, and the unitary operator expressions for each type are offered. Based on this, we propose an algorithm for computing the circuit unitary matrices in detail. Then, for quantum logic circuits composed of quantum logic gates, a faster method to compute unitary matrices of quantum circuits with truth table is introduced as a supplement. Finally, we apply the proposed algorithm to different reversible benchmark circuits based on NCT library (including NOT gate, Controlled-NOT gate, Toffoli gate) and generalized Toffoli (GT) library and provide our experimental results.     

Theoretical investigation of phase-based all-optical logic gates based on AlGaAs microring resonators

We propose and numerically verify a phase-based all-optical logic gates (AND, OR, XOR, NOT, NAND, NOR and XNOR, i.e. all seven basic logic gates) operation scheme based on cascaded AlGaAs microring resonators. The logic function realization is supported by the signal light phase change and extraction, the phase control in this scheme depending on cross phase modulation (XPM) in the AlGaAs microring. By inputting a non-return zero (NRZ) intensity signal as pump light, the probe light (continuous-wave, CW) will experience different phase shift and then a phase-based logical function can be obtained in this process. By choosing different pump power level, reference phase and the output port of a Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI), all seven basic logic operations can be realized by using the same device. The modulation depth, bandwidth and minimum power requirement of this scheme have also been discussed in detail.     

Ultra-High bit rate all-optical AND/OR logic gates based on photonic crystal with multi-wavelength simultaneous operation

In this paper, a novel two-dimensional photonic crystal based all-optical AND/OR logic gates are designed, simulated and optimized. The structure is built on a linear square lattice photonic crystal platform. A multi-wavelength operation, together with a simultaneous operation, is achieved at ultra-high bit rates. The concurrent operation is attained without altering the proposed design continuously, as stated in the literature. It provides simplicity because there is no auxiliary input required along with the absence of externally attached phase shift units. The enhancement process has been done to the rod radius. A magnificent representation tool is developed. The benefit of the mentioned tool lies in the data combination of different operating wavelengths, contrast ratio, and bit rate; which will establish an efficient optimization process. Each gate is enhanced independently, then an overall improvement has been done. As a result, the operation at 1.52?µm will provide a successful multi logic gate operation with ultra-high bit rates of 6.76 and 4.74 Tbit/s for AND and OR logic gates, respectively. The design has an acceptable size of (19.8?×?12.6 µm) and a contrast ratio of 9.74?dB and 17.95?dB for the designed AND and OR gate, respectively. The design is highly sensitive to the waveguide length to verify the gates on demand.     

All-optical logic gates based on photoinduced anisotropy of bacteriorhodopsin film

All-optical logic gates based on photoinduced anisotropy of bacteriorhodopsin (BR) film are proposed. The photoinduced anisotropy in BR film, which arises from the selective absorption of BR molecules to polarized light, can be controlled by changing the amplitudes and polarizations of exiting beams. As a consequence, the polarization of the probe light passing through the BR film can be controlled by the polarization of the exiting beam. Based on this property, a novel scheme of all-optical logic gates, such as AND, OR, XOR and NOT, has been implemented via the pump-probe technique. A theoretical model for the all-optical logic gates is proposed, and the theoretical predictions are demonstrated with the experimental results.     

Simple and universal platform for logic gate operations based on molecular beacon probes

A new platform technology is herein described with which to construct molecular logic gates by employing the hairpin-structured molecular beacon probe as a basic work unit. In this logic gate operation system, single-stranded DNA is used as the input to induce a conformational change in a molecular beacon probe through a sequence-specific interaction. The fluorescent signal resulting from the opening of the molecular beacon probe is then used as the output readout. Importantly, because the logic gates are based on DNA, thus permitting input/output homogeneity to be preserved, their wiring into multi-level circuits can be achieved by combining separately operated logic gates or by designing the DNA output of one gate as the input to the other. With this novel strategy, a complete set of two-input logic gates is successfully constructed at the molecular level, including OR, AND, XOR, INHIBIT, NOR, NAND, XNOR, and IMPLICATION. The logic gates developed herein can be reversibly operated to perform the set-reset function by applying an additional input or a removal strand. Together, these results introduce a new platform technology for logic gate operation that enables the higher-order circuits required for complex communication between various computational elements.     

Renewable Time‐Responsive DNA Circuits

DNA devices have been shown to be capable of evaluating Boolean logic. Several robust designs for DNA circuits have been demonstrated. Some prior DNA‐based circuits are use‐once circuits since the gate motifs of the DNA circuits get permanently destroyed as a side effect of the computation, and hence cannot respond correctly to subsequent changes in inputs. Other DNA‐based circuits use a large reservoir of buffered gates to replace the working gates of the circuit and can be used to drive a finite number of computation cycles. In many applications of DNA circuits, the inputs are inherently asynchronous, and this necessitates that the DNA circuits be asynchronous: the output must always be correct regardless of differences in the arrival time of inputs. This paper demonstrates: 1) renewable DNA circuits, which can be manually reverted to their original state by addition of DNA strands, and 2) time‐responsive DNA circuits, where if the inputs change over time, the DNA circuit can recompute the output correctly based on the new inputs, that are manually added after the system has been reset. The properties of renewable, asynchronous, and time‐responsiveness appear to be central to molecular‐scale systems; for example, self‐regulation in cellular organisms.     

Quantitative analysis of a fault tree with priority AND gates

A method for calculating the exact top event probability of a fault tree with priority AND gates and repeated basic events is proposed when the minimal cut sets are given. A priority AND gate is an AND gate where the input events must occur in a prescribed order for the occurrence of the output event. It is known that the top event probability of such a dynamic fault tree is obtained by converting the tree into an equivalent Markov model. However, this method is not realistic for a complex system model because the number of states which should be considered in the Markov analysis increases explosively as the number of basic events increases. To overcome the shortcomings of the Markov model, we propose an alternative method to obtain the top event probability in this paper. We assume that the basic events occur independently, exponentially distributed, and the component whose failure corresponds to the occurrence of the basic event is non-repairable. First, we obtain the probability of occurrence of the output event of a single priority AND gate by Markov analysis. Then, the top event probability is given by a cut set approach and the inclusion–exclusion formula. An efficient procedure to obtain the probabilities corresponding to logical products in the inclusion–exclusion formula is proposed. The logical product which is composed of two or more priority AND gates having at least one common basic event as their inputs is transformed into the sum of disjoint events which are equivalent to a priority AND gate in the procedure. Numerical examples show that our method works well for complex systems.     

Zero-static-power nonvolatile logic-in-memory circuits for flexible electronics

Flexible logic circuits and memory with ultra-low static power consumption are in great demand for battery-powered flexible electronic systems.Here,we show that a flexible nonvolatile logic-in-memory circuit enabling normally-off computing can be implemented using a poly(1,3,5-trivinyl-1,3,5-trimethyl cyclotrisiloxane) (pV3D3)-based memristor array.Although memristive logic-in-memory circuits have been previously reported,the requirements of additional components and the large variation of memristors have limited demonstrations to simple gates within a few operation cycles on rigid substrates only.Using memristor-aided logic (MAGIC) architecture requiring only memristors and pV3D3-memristor with good uniformity on a flexible substrate,for the first time,we experimentally demonstrated our implementation of MAGIC-NOT and-NOR gates during multiple cycles and even under bent conditions.Other functions,such as OR,AND,NAND,and a half adder,are also realized by combinations of NOT and NOR gates within a crossbar array.This research advances the development of novel computing architecture with zero static power consumption for batterypowered flexible electronic systems.     

Design of synthetic biological logic circuits based on evolutionary algorithm

The construction of an artificial biological logic circuit using systematic strategy is recognised as one of the most important topics for the development of synthetic biology. In this study, a real‐structured genetic algorithm (RSGA), which combines general advantages of the traditional real genetic algorithm with those of the structured genetic algorithm, is proposed to deal with the biological logic circuit design problem. A general model with the cis ‐regulatory input function and appropriate promoter activity functions is proposed to synthesise a wide variety of fundamental logic gates such as NOT, Buffer, AND, OR, NAND, NOR and XOR. The results obtained can be extended to synthesise advanced combinational and sequential logic circuits by topologically distinct connections. The resulting optimal design of these logic gates and circuits are established via the RSGA. The in silico computer‐based modelling technology has been verified showing its great advantages in the purpose.Inspec keywords: biocomputing, biological techniques, combinational circuits, genetic algorithms, logic design, logic gates, sequential circuitsOther keywords: in silico computer‐based modelling, RSGA, sequential logic circuits, XOR gates, NOR gates, NAND gates, OR gates, AND gates, Buffer gates, NOT gates, fundamental logic gates, cis‐regulatory input function, real‐structured genetic algorithm, artiflcial biological logic circuit design     

Carrier Modulation in 2D Transistors by Inserting Interfacial Dielectric Layer for Area-Efficient Computation

2D materials with atomic thickness display strong gate controllability and emerge as promising materials to build area-efficient electronic circuits. However, achieving the effective and nondestructive modulation of carrier density/type in 2D materials is still challenging because the introduction of dopants will greatly degrade the carrier transport via Coulomb scattering. Here, a strategy to control the polarity of tungsten diselenide (WSe₂) field-effect transistors (FETs) via introducing hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) as the interfacial dielectric layer is devised. By modulating the h-BN thickness, the carrier type of WSe₂ FETs has been switched from hole to electron. The ultrathin body of WSe₂, combined with the effective polarity control, together contribute to the versatile single-transistor logic gates, including NOR, AND, and XNOR gates, and the operation of only two transistors as a half adder in logic circuits. Compared with the use of 12 transistors based on static Si CMOS technology, the transistor number of the half adder is reduced by 83.3%. The unique carrier modulation approach has general applicability toward 2D logic gates and circuits for the improvement of area efficiency in logic computation.     

Sensitive photonic crystal phase logic gates

Total optical phase logic gates are reported in this paper. They are constructed by coupled-defect photonic crystal after two problems are overcome by a heterostructure or an asymmetric structure. Both half and all-phase logic gates are discussed. The sensitivity of these total optical phase logic gates not only are two orders sensitive than those using amplitude-signal, but also have many other advantages: such as very low energy cost. By using such phase logic gates, only a continued wave laser with one frequency is sufficient to operate the phase logic gate or the whole optical integrated circuit.     

Flexible logic gates composed of high performance GaAs-nanowire-based MESFETs with MHz-dynamic operations

High performance NOT, NAND and NOR logic gates composed of GaAs-nanowire (NW)-based metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs) were constructed on flexible plastics through a noble top-down route. The representative GaAs-NW-based MESFETs exhibited superior electrical characteristics such as a high mobility (～3300 cm(2) V(-) s(-1)), large I(on)/I(off) ratio (～10(8)) and small subthreshold swing (～70 mV/dec). The NOT, NAND and NOR logic gates showed a maximum voltage gain of 108 and logic swings of 97-99%. All of the logic gates successfully retained their electrical characteristics during 2000 bending cycles. Furthermore, the logic gates were well operated by square-wave signals of up to 100 MHz under various strain conditions. The high performances demonstrated in this study open the way to the realization of high speed flexible logic devices.     

Phonon‐Assisted Electro‐Optical Switches and Logic Gates Based on Semiconductor Nanostructures

High‐performance nanostructured electro‐optical switches and logic gates are highly desirable as essential building blocks in integrated photonics. In contrast to silicon‐based optoelectronic devices, with their inherent indirect optical bandgap, weak light‐modulation mechanism, and sophisticated device configuration, direct‐bandgap‐semiconductor nanostructures with attractive electro‐optical properties are promising candidates for the construction of nanoscale optical switches for on‐chip photonic integrations. However, previously reported semiconductor‐nanostructure optical switches suffer from serious drawbacks such as high drive voltage, limited operation spectral range, and low modulation depth. High‐efficiency electro‐optical switches based on single CdS nanobelts with low drive voltage, ultra‐high on/off ratio, and broad operation wavelength range, properties resulting from unique electric‐field‐dependent phonon‐assisted optical transitions, are demonstrated. Furthermore, functional NOT, NOR, and NAND optical logic gates are demonstrated based on these switches. These switches and optical logic gates represent an important step toward integrated photonic circuits.     

Master Logic Diagram: method for hazard and initiating event identification in process plants

Master Logic Diagram (MLD), a method for identifying events initiating accidents in chemical installations, is presented. MLD is a logic diagram that resembles a fault tree but without the formal mathematical properties of the latter. MLD starts with a Top Event "Loss of Containment" and decomposes it into simpler contributing events. A generic MLD has been developed which may be applied to all chemical installations storing toxic and/or flammable substances. The method is exemplified through its application to an ammonia storage facility.     

通用逻辑门电路的SET实现及应用

通用逻辑门具有更强的逻辑功能,相比传统逻辑门更适合作为阵列逻辑单元。单电子晶体管（SingleElectronTransistor,SET）被认为是众多纳米电子器件中的强有力竞争者。为了拓展SET的应用,减少逻辑综合所用逻辑门的种类,提出了通用逻辑门的SET电路实现方案,设计出基于sET的通用逻辑门树形结构的全比较器等电路,用Hspicer软件对所设计的电路进行仿真,结果表明,该电路具有正确的逻辑功能,为SET通用逻辑门的进一步研究应用奠定了基础。     

Reliability-Driven Gate Replication for Nanometer-Scale Digital Logic

To make digital circuits with unreliable devices more reliable has been a design challenge, especially for today's nanometer-scale technologies. In this paper, we discuss gate replication architecture towards increasing the reliability of individual logic gates. While this architecture is similar to, and a special case of, conventional N-modular redundancy scheme, we provide more interpretation and extend it to the situation where N is an even integer by using threshold logic gate instead of majority voter. We also study the reliability models for generic gates with single-electron tunneling (SET) technology. Both analysis and numerical evaluation suggest that while more redundancy leads to higher reliability in general, the improvement rate depends on individual gate failure rates