RTD/CMOS nanoelectronic circuits: thin-film InP-based resonanttunneling diodes integrated with CMOS circuits

The combination of resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) silicon circuitry can offer substantial improvement in speed, power dissipation, and circuit complexity over CMOS-only circuits. We demonstrate the first integrated resonant tunneling CMOS circuit, a clocked 1-bit comparator with a device count of six, compared with 21 in a comparable all-CMOS design. A hybrid integration process is developed for InP-based RTDs which are transferred and bonded to CMOS chips. The prototype comparator shows sensitivity in excess of 10⁶ VIA, and achieves error-free performance in functionality testing. An optimized integration process, under development, can yield high-speed, low power circuits by lowering the high parasitic capacitance associated with the prototype circuit     

QMOS digital logic circuit design

This paper presents results of work to explore the feasibility of using resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs) and conventional MOSFETs for the development of digital logic circuits. Based on the use of RTDs and MOSFETs, two different logic design styles—fixed pull-down and fixed pull-up—are proposed and evaluated. Fixed pull-up gates perform better than their CMOS counterparts with similar device sizes. Since the proposed fixed pull-down style avoids the use of series MOSFETs, for large fan-in gates it yields significantly better performance than the corresponding CMOS gates.     

改进型三值RTD量化器的设计

共振隧穿二极管RTD本身所特有的负阻微分特性使其成为天然的多值器件。介绍了三值RTD和三值RTD+HEMT的伏安特性以及三值RTD量化器和开关序列的工作原理,以RTD开关序列模型为指导思想设计出改进型三值RTD量化器电路,比原电路结构简单,仿真结果验证了设计的正确性。该设计方法不仅可以用于实现更简单和更灵活的三值RTD量化器,还能用于更高值的多值RTD逻辑电路的设计中。     

基于共振隧穿二极管的集成电路研究

RTD基集成电路所具有的超高速、低功耗和自锁存的特性,使其在数字电路、混合信号电路以及光电子系统中有着重要的应用。首先对RTD与化合物半导体HEMT,HBT以及硅CMOS器件的集成工艺进行了介绍。在MOBILE电路及其改进和延伸的基础上,对高速ADC／DAC电路和低功耗的存储器电路进行了具体的分析。最后对RTD基电路面临的主要问题和挑战进行了讨论,提出基于硅基RTD与线性阈值门（LTG）逻辑相结合是未来纳米级超大规模集成电路的最佳发展方向。     

A GaN/InGaN/AlGaN MQW RTD for versatile MVL applications with improved logic stability

To improve the logic stability of conventional multi-valued logic (MVL) circuits designed with a GaN-based resonate tunneling diode (RTD),we proposed a GaN/InGaN/AlGaN multi-quantum well (MQW) RTD.The proposed RTD was simulated through solving the coupled Schrodinger and Poisson equations in the numerical non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method on the TCAD platform.The proposed RTD was grown layer by layer in epitaxial technologies.Simulated results indicate that its current-voltage characteristic appears to have a wider total negative differential resistance region than those of conventional ones and an obvious hysteresis loop at room temperature.To increase the Al composite of AlGaN barrier layers properly results in increasing of both the total negative differential resistance region width and the hysteresis loop width,which is helpful to improve the logic stability of MVL circuits.Moreover,the complement resonate tunneling transistor pair consisted of the proposed RTDs or the proposed RTD and enhanced mode HEMT controlled RTD is capable of generating versatile MVL modes at different supply voltages less than 3.3 V,which is very attractive for implementing more complex MVL function digital integrated circuits and systems with less devices,super high speed linear or nonlinear ADC and voltage sensors with a built-in super high speed ADC function.     

基于RTD与CMOS的新型数字电路设计

纳米电子器件RTD与CMOS电路结合,这种新型电路不仅保持了CMOS动态电路的所有优点,而且在工作速度、功耗、集成度以及电路噪声免疫性方面都得到了不同程度的改善和提高。文中对数字电路中比较典型的可编程逻辑门、全加器电路进行了设计与模拟,并在此基础上对4×4阵列纳米流水线乘法器进行了结构设计。同时讨论了在目前硅基RTD器件较低的PVCR值情况下实现相应电路的可行性。     

Using multi-threshold threshold gates in RTD-based logic design: A case study

The basic building blocks for resonant tunneling diode (RTD) logic circuits are threshold gates (TGs) instead of the conventional Boolean gates (AND, OR, NAND, NOR) due to the fact that, when designing with RTDs, TGs can be implemented as efficiently as conventional ones, but realize more complex functions. Recently, RTD structures implementing multi-threshold threshold gates (MTTGs) have been proposed which further increase the functionality of the original TGs while maintaining their operating principle and allowing also the implementation of nanopipelining at the gate level. This paper describes the design of n-bit adders using these MTTGs. A comparison with a design based on TGs is carried out showing advantages in terms of power consumption and power delay product.     

A new true-single-phase-clocking BiCMOS dynamic pipelined logicfamily for high-speed, low-voltage pipelined system applications

New true-single-phase-clocking (TSPC) BiCMOS/BiNMOS/BiPMOS dynamic logic circuits and BiCMOS/BiNMOS dynamic latch logic circuits for high-speed dynamic pipelined system applications are proposed and analyzed. In the proposed circuits, the bootstrapping technique is utilized to achieve fast near-full-swing operation. The circuit performance of the proposed new dynamic logic circuits and dynamic latch logic circuits in both domino and pipelined applications are simulated by using HSPICE with 1 μm BiCMOS technology. Simulation results have shown that the new dynamic logic circuits and dynamic latch logic circuits in both domino and pipelined applications have better speed performance than that of CMOS and other BiCMOS dynamic logic circuits as the supply voltage is scaled down to 2 V. The operating frequency and power dissipation/MHz of the pipelined system, which is constructed by the new clock-high-evaluate-BiCMOS dynamic latch logic circuit and clock-low-evaluate-BiCMOS (BiNMOS) dynamic latch logic circuit, and the logic units with two stacked MOS transistors, are about 2.36 (2.2) times and 1.15 (1.1) times those of the CMOS TSPC dynamic logic under 1.5-pF output loading at 2 V, respectively. Moreover, the chip area of these two BiCMOS pipelined systems is about 1.9 times and 1.7 times as compared with that of the CMOS TSPC pipelined system. A two-input dynamic AND gate fabricated with 1 μm BiCMOS technology verifies the speed advantage of the new BiNMOS dynamic logic circuit. Due to the excellent circuit performance in high-speed, low-voltage operation, the proposed new dynamic logic circuits and dynamic latch logic circuits are feasible for high-speed, low-voltage dynamic pipelined system applications     

Multivalued SRAM cell using resonant tunneling diodes

A multivalued SRAM cell using a vertically integrated multipeak resonant tunneling diode (RTD) pair is described. Two RTDs in series can have 2N+1 stable states. With this concept, a five-stable-state memory cell has been implemented with two 2-peak RTDs. Several designs are presented for a high-speed static random access multivalued memory using the folding characteristics of RTDs. The different designs are described and studied by comparing their power consumption under different conditions of device parameters and switching speed. The authors show that the proposed memory cell using a pair of multipeak RTDs yields the best result from the standpoint of size, power dissipation, and speed among the RTD memory cells discussed     

Design and application of CMOS bulk input scheme

This work presents CMOS bulk input differential logic (BIDL) circuits. The bulk input scheme is applied to enable bulk terminals to receive signals. A boost circuit is employed to the bulk terminal of an input device. A multiple-input boost circuit is also developed to improve the flexibility of logic design. A current latch sense amplifier is used to generate a pair of full-swing output signals without dc power dissipation. The devices in the differential logic network are connected in parallel, leading to a low parasitic resistive and capacitive load. The BIDL has better speed and power performance than conventional differential logic circuits. The flexibility of the logic design is greatly improved. The BIDL is applied to a divide-by-128/129 frequency synthesizer using a 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS process. Measurement results of the test chip indicate that the operating frequency is 2 GHz at a supply voltage of 2.5 V.     

Nanowire Crossbar Logic and Standard Cell-Based Integration

Nanowire crossbar is one of the most promising circuit solutions for nanoelectronics. However, it is still unclear whether or how they can be competitive in implementing logic circuits, as compared to their MOSFET counterparts. We analyze nanowire crossbars in area, speed, and power, in comparison with their MOSFET counterparts. We show nanowire crossbars do not scale well in terms of logic density and speed. To achieve performance close to their MOSFET counterparts, crossbar circuits need faster field-effect transistors (FETs) to compensate the high resistance of nanowires. Motivated by the analysis and comparative study, we propose a crossbar cells design based on judicious use of silicon nanowires. The crossbar cell is compatible with the conventional MOSFET fabrication and design methodologies, in particular, standard cell-based integrated circuit design. We evaluate logic circuits synthesized with crossbar cells and MOSFET cells based on the MCNC91 benchmark. The results show that crossbar cells can provide a density advantage of more than four times over the traditional MOSFET circuits with the same process technology, while achieving close performance and consuming less than one third power.      

Monolithic integrated resonant tunneling diode and heterostructure junction field effect transistor circuits

We have developed a simple technology for monolithic integration of resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) and heterostructure junction-modulated field effect transistors (HJFETs). We have achieved good device performance with this technology: HJFETs had transconductances of 290 mS/mm and current densities of 310 mA/mm for a 1.5 μm gate length; RTDs had room temperature peak to valley ratios greater than 20:1 with current densities of 42 kA/cm². With this technology, we have demonstrated a monolithically integrated RTD + HJFET state holding circuit that can serve as a building block circuit for self-timed logic units. This circuit is resistor-free and operates at room temperature. The state holding circuit showed large noise margins of 1.21 V and 0.71 V, respectively, for input low and input high, for a 1.7 V input voltage swing. We have examined the transient response of the circuit and investigated the effect of circuit design parameters on propagation delay. We identify the RTD valley current as the limiting factor on propagation delay. We discuss the suitability of RTD + HJFET circuits such as our state holding circuit for highly dense integrated circuits.     

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     

Graphene nanoribbon crossbar architecture for low power and dense circuit implementations

Crossbar array is a promising nanoscale architecture which can be used for logic circuit implementation. In this work, a graphene nanoribbon (GNR) based crossbar architecture is proposed. This design uses parallel GNRs as device channel and metal as gate, source and drain contacts. Schottky-barrier type graphene nanoribbon field-effect transistors (SB-GNRFETs) are formed at the cross points of the GNRs and the metallic gates. Benchmark circuits are implemented using the proposed crossbar, Si-CMOS and multi-gate Si-CMOS approaches to evaluate the performance of the crossbar architecture compared to the conventional CMOS logic design. The compact SPICE model of SB-GNRFET was used to simulate crossbar-based circuits. The CMOS circuits are also simulated using 16 nm technology parameters. Simulation results of benchmark circuits using SIS synthesis tool indicate that the GNR-based crossbar circuits outperform conventional CMOS circuits in low power applications. Area optimized cell libraries are implemented based on the asymmetric crossbar architecture. The area of the circuit can be more reduced using this architecture at the expense of higher delay. The crossbar cells can be combined with CMOS cells to exhibit better performance in terms of EDP.     

Design of nanopipelined adder based on resonant tunneling diode

Due to the negative differential resistance exhibited by resonant tunneling diode (RTD), RTD is suited to implement the threshold gates and increases the functionality of a single gate. Recently, multi-threshold threshold gates (MTTGs) and generalized threshold gates (GTGs) have been proposed, which extend the circuit applications of RTDs. In this paper, a new RTD full adder structure with three logic modules is proposed. Based on this structure, four different adders are built with the combination of different module circuits based on MTTG and GTG. From the simulation results, one of the proposed circuits with GTG structure, namely FA_GG, has the best performance, which reduces 27.7–45.9% power-delay product value in comparison with the previous designs.     

CMOS负阻单元逻辑电路及其发展前景

在回顾了多值逻辑(MVL)电路的优点、分析了共振隧穿器件(RTD)电路的特点和比较了各种类型负阻器件性能的基础上,提出了利用CMOS型负阻单元作为基础性器件设计并实现CMOS型逻辑电路的新概念,并指出了此研究领域的几个重点研究内容和方向。     

INDEP approach for leakage reduction in nanoscale CMOS circuits

Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology scaling for improving speed and functionality turns leakage power one of the major concerns for nanoscale circuits design. The minimization of leakage power is a rising challenge for the design of the existing and future nanoscale CMOS circuits. This paper presents a novel, input-dependent, transistor-level, low leakage and reliable INput DEPendent (INDEP) approach for nanoscale CMOS circuits. INDEP approach is based on Boolean logic calculations for the input signals of the extra inserted transistors within the logic circuit. The gate terminals of extra inserted transistors depend on the primary input combinations of the logic circuits. The appropriate selection of input gate voltages of INDEP transistors are reducing the leakage current efficiently along with rail to rail output voltage swing. The important characteristic of INDEP approach is that it works well in both active as well as standby modes of the circuits. This approach overcomes the limitations created by the prevalent current leakage reduction techniques. The simulation results indicate that INDEP approach mitigates 41.6% and 35% leakage power for 1-bit full adder and ISCAS-85 c17 benchmark circuit, respectively, at 32 nm bulk CMOS technology node.     

BiCMOS circuit technology for a 704 MHz ATM switch LSI

This paper describes BiCMOS level-converter circuits and clock circuits that increase VLSI interface speed to 1 GHz, and their application to a 704 MHz ATM switch LSI. An LSI with a high speed interface requires a BiCMOS multiplexer/demultiplexer (MUX/DEMUX) on the chip to reduce internal operation speed. A MUX/DEMUX with minimum power dissipation and a minimum pattern area can be designed using the proposed converter circuits. The converter circuits, using weakly cross-coupled CMOS inverters and a voltage regulator circuit, can convert signal levels between LCML and positive CMOS at a speed of 500 MHz. Data synchronization in the high speed region is ensured by a new BiCMOS clock circuit consisting of a pure ECL path and retiming circuits. The clock circuit reduces the chip latency fluctuation of the clock signal and absorbs the delay difference between the ECL clock and data through the CMOS circuits. A rerouting-Banyan (RRB) ATM switch, employing both the proposed converter circuits and the clock circuits, has been fabricated with 0.5 μm BiCMOS technology. The LSI, composed of CMOS 15 K gate logic, 8 Kb RAM, I Kb FIFO and ECL 1.6 K gate logic, achieved an operation speed of 704-MHz with power dissipation of 7.2 W     

A 4.4 ns CMOS 54×54-b multiplier using pass-transistormultiplexer

A 54×54-b multiplier using pass-transistor multiplexers has been fabricated by 0.25 μm CMOS technology. To enhance the speed performance, a new 4-2 compressor and a carry lookahead adder (CLA), both featuring pass-transistor multiplexers, have been developed. The new circuits have a speed advantage over conventional CMOS circuits because the number of critical-path gate stages is minimized due to the high logic functionality of pass-transistor multiplexers. The active size of the 54×54-b multiplier is 3.77×3.41 mm. The multiplication time is 4.4 ns at a 3.5-V power supply     

Low-power logic styles: CMOS versus pass-transistor logic

Recently reported logic style comparisons based on full-adder circuits claimed complementary pass-transistor logic (CPL) to be much more power-efficient than complementary CMOS. However, new comparisons performed on more efficient CMOS circuit realizations and a wider range of different logic cells, as well as the use of realistic circuit arrangements demonstrate CMOS to be superior to CPL in most cases with respect to speed, area, power dissipation, and power-delay products. An implemented 32-b adder using complementary CMOS has a power-delay product of less than half that of the CPL version. Robustness with respect to voltage scaling and transistor sizing, as well as generality and ease-of-use, are additional advantages of CMOS logic gates, especially when cell-based design and logic synthesis are targeted. This paper shows that complementary CMOS is the logic style of choice for the implementation of arbitrary combinational circuits if low voltage, low power, and small power-delay products are of concern