A high-speed four-bit full adder with a resistor coupled Josephson logic

A four-bit full adder circuit implemented in resistor coupled Josephson logic (RCJL) has been designed and successfully tested with 173-ps critical path delay. The full adder circuit uses dual rail logic with emphasis on high-speed operation. An experimental four-bit adder circuit was fabricated using lead-alloy Josephson IC technology with a 5-µm minimum feature size and a 7-µm minimum junction diameter. The circuit consists of 80 devices with 264 junctions. The minimum critical path delay for the ripple carry adder was measured to be 173 ps/4 bits. This result demonstrates the RCJL potential for high-speed digital applications.     

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.     

Some system implications of a Josephson computer technology

The Josephson Technology as now understood is projected onto a current computer mainframe, the IBM 3033 to estimate its effect. This is a hypothetical projection and should not be taken in any way to represent a planned product. A three cycle critical case path is identified. Then an experimental 2.5-µm Josephson current injection logic (CIL) circuit family and cache memory design are configured into a functionally equivalent Josephson package. Propagation distances in the hypothetical package are estimated to be 6 percent of those in the comparison mainframe; estimated cycle time is 4 ns yielding an internal performance improvement by a factor of > 14. The Josephson version of the IBM 3033 would entail a more than 99-percent reduction in regulated power.     

A Josephson adder employing high-gain direct-coupled logic gate

A wide-margin adder with a simple configuration employing high-gain direct-coupled logic gates (HDCL's) was studied. A wide-margin half-adder circuit, consisting of a single junction and three HDCL buffer gates, is proposed. In order to obtain a wide-margin circuit, gates were designed to be protective against a noise signal. The experimental circuit fabricated by a conventional Pb alloy Josephson technology with 5-µm minimum line width has shown wide-margin (more than a ± 30-percent bias signal margin) characteristics, as predicted by a computer simulation. This paper also demonstrates that the adder can be simply modified into a wide-margin full adder with a simple configuration by connecting an additional single junction and a buffer gate for a carry signal.     

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)     

A Josephson technology system level experiment

This letter describes the first system level test vehicle in Josephson technology. The experiment consists of four circuit chips assembled on two cards in a high density, 3-dimensional, card-on-board package. A data path, which is representative of a critical path of a future prototype processor, was successfully operated with a minimum cycle time of 3.7ns. The path simulates a jump control sequence and a cache access in each machine cycle. This experiment incorporates the essential components of the logic, power and package portions of a Josephson technology prototype.     

High-speed CMOS demultiplexer with redundant multi-valued logic

This paper describes an 11-Gb/s CMOS demultiplexer with redundant multi-valued logic. The proposed circuit receives serial binary data which is converted to parallel redundant multi-valued data. The converted data are reconverted to parallel binary data. By the redundant multi-valued data conversion, the redundant multi-valued logic makes it possible to achieve higher operating speeds than that of a conventional binary logic. The implemented demultiplexer consists of eight integrators. The circuit is designed with a 0.35?µm standard CMOS process. The validity and effectiveness are verified through HSPICE simulation. The demultiplexer is achieved to the maximum data rate of 11-Gb/s and the average power consumption of 69.43?mW. This circuit is expected to operate at a higher speed than 11-Gb/s in the deep-submicron process of the high operating frequency.     

An experimental multiplier circuit based on superconducting Josephson devices

This paper describes the design, testing, and operation of a 4-bit multiplier circuit based on Josephson tunneling logic (JTL) gates. The algorithm adopted was that of a simple serial 4-bit multiplier consisting of a 4-bit adder with ripple carry, together with a four phase, 8-bit accumulator shift register. The circuit, fabricated using a 25-/spl mu/m minimum linewidth technology, operated with a minimum cycle time of 6.67 ns (a limit imposed by the external test equipment) giving a 4-bit multiplication time of 27 ns with an average power dissipation of 35 /spl mu/W per logic gate. With better external pulse generators, or internal Josephson junction generators, the present circuit has been simulated to operate with a 3.0-ns cycle giving a 4-bit multiplication time of 12 ns.     

Josephson dual rail two-bit adder circuit utilizing magnetically coupled OR-AND gates

A novel Josephson logic gate called the asymmetrical interferometer device (AID) is presented. It is composed of a pair of asymmetrical interferometers whose outputs are injected into a single junction. The interferometers are individually operated as two input OR and the single junction is worked as AND.(A + B) (C + D)operation is accomplished by only one AID gate. They have a serial fan-in capability due to their magnetic coupling scheme. The gate size is reduced by half, compared with the previous current injection logic (CIL) gate. With these AID gates, a high-speed two-bit dual rail adder circuit is configured, which provides the logic circuits performing with both true and complement inputs and without any timing circuits. The AID gate fabricated by standard 5-µm Pb-alloy technology showed a wide margin over ±20 percent that was in good agreement with statically designed characteristics. Experimental adder operation was also successfully performed.     

An RCJL decoder for a Josephson memory

A resistor-coupled Josephson logic (RCJL) [1] decoder was proposed and experimentally tested to satisfy the requirements for a Josephson cache memory. The RCJL decoder is an ac powered latch decoder and is constructed from RCJL AND-OR units. Therefore, it has advantages in regard to higher packing density, reduced decoding time, and intrinsically damped resonance phenomena over interferometer decoders. A 4-bit decoder, consisting of 28 AND-OR units, was fabricated using a 4-µm Pb-alloy technology. A ±14- percent gate-bias-current margin was obtained.     

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.     

Designing Dynamic Carry Skip Adders: Analysis and Comparison

Addition represents an important operation that significantly impacts the performance of almost every data processing system. Due to their importance and popularity, addition algorithms and their corresponding circuit implementations have consistently received attention in research circles, over the years. One of the most popular implementations for long adders is the carry skip adder. In this paper, we present the design space exploration for a variety of carry skip adder implementations. More specifically, the paper focuses on the implementation of these adders using traditional as well as novel dynamic circuit design styles. 8–16–32–64-bit adders were implemented using traditional domino, footless domino, and data driven dynamic logic (D3L) in ST Microelectronics 45 nm 1 V CMOS process. In order to further exploit the advantages of the domino and D3L approaches, a new hybrid methodology combining both strategies was implemented and presented in this work. The adders were analyzed for energy-delay trade-offs at different process corners. They were also examined for their sensitivity to process and supply voltage variations. Comparative simulation results reveal that the full D3L adder ensures a better energy-delay product over all process corners (down to 34 % and 25 % lower than the domino and hybrid implementations, respectively, at the typical corner), while showing at the same time similar performance in terms of process and supply voltage variability as compared to the other considered carry skip adder configurations.     

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.     

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     

A compact high-speed (31,5) parallel counter circuit based oncapacitive threshold-logic gates

A novel high-speed circuit implementation of the (31,5)-parallel counter (i.e., population counter) based on capacitive threshold logic (CTL) is presented. The circuit consists of 20 threshold logic gates arranged in two stages, i.e., the parallel counter described here has an effective logic depth of two. The charge-based CTL gates are essentially dynamic circuits which require a periodic refresh or precharge cycle, but unlike conventional dynamic CMOS gates, the circuit can be operated in synchronous as well as in asynchronous mode. The counter circuit is implemented using conventional 1.2 μm double-poly CMOS technology, and it occupies a silicon area of about 0.08 mm². Extensive post-layout simulations indicate that the circuit has a typical input-to-output propagation delay of less than 3 ns, and the test circuit is shown to operate reliably when consecutive 31-b input vectors are applied at a rate of up to 16 Mvectors/s. With its demonstrated data processing capability of about 500 Mb/s, the CTL-based (31,5) parallel counter offers a number of application possibilities, e.g., in high-speed parallel multiplier arrays and data encoding circuits     

An AC-powered experimental memory circuit with a resistively loaded sense circuit

The design and fabrication of an ac-powered experimental memory circuit for Josephson cache memories are reported. The circuit contains a memory cell array and a sense circuit. The sense circuit consists of RCJL gates, symmetrical three-junction sense gates, and transmission lines. An experimental memory circuit has been fabricated by 2-µm Pb-alloy processes. A proper circuit operation, has been verified using a bipolar trapezoidal waveform current. A ±23-percent sense current margin and a ±29-percent OR gate bias current margin were obtained. A typical 130-ps sense time was estimated for a 1-kbit memory by computer simulations.     

Resistor-loaded high-speed sense circuit for Josephson memory

A design and experimental verification of a new high-speed sense circuit for Josephson memory are reported. This sense circuit consists of latching logic circuits with resistive loads and is able to adoptX-Ynonsequential access. It is necessary to decrease base-electrode capacitance of sense gates or to insert dummy inductors in the counter electrodes for the gate in order to realize high-speed memory circuit through word-line impedance matching. In 4-kbit RAM's, it was clarified that the gathering circuit which is composed of two-stage OR gates, each of which is composed of an 8-input wired RCL-OR gate, can minimize the gathering delay time. An experimental sense circuit was fabricated using a 5-µm Pb-alloy process, and the read-out time was measured to be about 400 ps using an on-chip sampling circuit.     

New Technology Towards GaAs LSI/VLSI for Computer Applications

For future large-scale computer applications, new device technologies towards GaAs LSI/VLSI have been developed self-aligned fully implanted planar GaAs MESFET technology and high electron mobility transistor (HFMT) technology by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The self-aligned GaAs MESFET logic with 1.5-µm gate length exhibits a minimum switching time of 50 ps and the lowest power-delay product of 14.5 fJ at room temperature. The enhancement/depletion (E/D) type direct coupled HEMT logic has achieved a switching time of 17.1 ps with 1.7-µm gate length at liquid nitrogen temperature and more recently a switching time of 12.8 ps with 1.1-µm gate HEMT logic, which exceeds the top speed of Josephson Junction logic and shows the highest speed of any device logic ever reported. Optimized system performances are also projected to system delay of 200 ps at 10-kilogate integration with GaAs MESFET VLSI, and 100 ps at 100-kilogate with HEMT VLSI. These values of system delay correspond to the computer performance of over 100 million instructions per second (MIPS).     

New technology towards GaAs LSI/VLSI for computer applications

For future large-scale computer applications, new device technologies towards GaAs LSI/VLSI have been developed: self-aligned fully implanted planar GaAs MESFET technology and high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The self-aligned GaAs MESFET logic with 1.5-µm gate length exhibits a minimum switching time of 50 ps and the lowest power-delay product of 14.5 fJ at room temperature. The enhancement/depletion (E/D) type direct coupled HEMT logic has achieved a switching time of 17.1 ps with 1.7-µm gate length at liquid nitrogen temperature and more recently a switching time of 12.8 ps with 1.1-µm gate HEMT logic, which exceeds the top speed of Josephson Junction logic and shows the highest speed of any device logic ever reported. Optimized system performances are also projected to system delay of 200 ps at 10-kilogate integration with GaAs MESFET VLSI, and 100 ps at 100-kilogate with HEMT VLSI. These values of system delay correspond to the computer performance of over 100 million instructions per second (MIPS).     

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.