(IJCSIS) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,Vol. 8, No. 8, 2010
Blemish Tolerance in Cellular Automata AndEvaluation
Reliability
Roghayyeh parikhani
Engineering Department, IslamicAzad University, Tabriz branchTabriz, Iranr.parikhani@gmail.com
Mohmad teshnelab
Department of Controls Engineering,Faculty of Electrical and ComputerEngineering,KN Toosi University of TechnologyTehran, Iranteshnehlab@eetd.kntu.ac.ic
Shahram babaei
Engineering Department, IslamicAzad University, Tabriz branchTabriz, IranSh.babaie@iaut.ac.ir
Abstract
—The computational paradigm known as quantum-dotcellular automata (QCA) encodes binary information in thecharge configuration of Coulomb-coupled quantum-dot cells.Functioning QCA devices made of metal-dot cells have beenfabricated and measured. We focus here on the issue of robustness in the presence of disorder and thermal fluctuations.We examine the performance of a semi-infinite QCA shiftregister as a function of both clock period and temperature. Theexistence of power gain in QCA cells acts to restore signal levelseven in situations where high speed operation and hightemperature operation threaten signal stability. Randomvariations in capacitance values can also be tolerated.
Keywords-component; QCA, molecular electronics, singleelectronics, quantum-dot cellular automata, nanoelectronics
I.
I
NTRODUCTION
Conventional transistor-based CMOS technology facesgreat challenges with the down-scaling of device sizes inrecent years. Issues such as quantum effects, dopant-induceddisorder, and power dissipation may hinder further progress inscaling microelectronics. As the scaling approaches amolecular level, a new paradigm beyond using current switchesto encode binary information may be needed. Quantum-dotcellular automata (QCA) [1–3, 6, 12, 13, 18, 21] emerges asone such a paradigm. In the QCA approach bit information isencoded in the charge configuration within a cell. Columbicinteraction between cells is sufficient to accomplish thecomputation; no current flows out of the cell. It has been shownthat very low power dissipation is possible [8].A clocked QCA cell constructed with six quantum dots isshown in Fig. 1. Dots are simply places where a charge islocalized. Two mobile electrons are present in the cell. Theelectrons will occupy antipodal sites in the corner dots becauseof Coulomb repulsion. The two configuration states correspondto binary information of ” 1” and “0” The electrons can also bepulled to middle dots if the occupancy energy in the middledots is lower than corner dots. In this case we term theconfiguration “null” with no binary information present. Theclock adjusts the relative occupancy energy between active dotsin the corner and null dots in the middle, pushing electrons toeither active dots or null dots. The cell therefore switchesbetween null state and active state. When a cell is placed closeto another cell (as shown in Fig. 1b), they will have the samepolarization due to Coulomb coupling. Based on the cell-to-cellinteraction, logical QCA devices like binary wires, inverters,majority gates and full adders can all be implemented [18].QCA devices exist. QCA devices made of metal-dot cellshave been successfully demonstrated at low temperatures.Majority gates, binary wires, memories, clocked shift registersand fan outs have all been fabricated [1–3, 12, 13, 21]. Figure 2shows a schematic diagram and scanning electron micrographof a clocked shift register. Aluminum islands form the dots andAl/AlOx tunnel junctions serve as the tunneling path betweendots.Tunnel junctions are fabricated with shadow evaporationtechnique. Multiple tunnel junctions are used instead of a single junction to suppress co-tunneling. The clock is implemented bysimply applying voltage to leads capacitively coupled to themiddle dots. Single electron transistors (SET_s) are used asreadout electrometers. Though the operation of metal-dot QCAdevices is restricted to cryogenic temperatures, they may beviewed as prototypes for molecular QCA cells that will operateat room temperature. It may well be that molecular QCA,withthe possibility of enormous functional densities, very lowpower dissipation, and room temperature operation, is finallythe most promising system [5, 9–11, 14, 16].Metal-dot QCA do have the advantage of having beenalready created and tested, and we expect that understandingthe details of robustness in the metal-dot system will yieldbenefits for designing molecular systems. Here we focus onthe robustness in metal-dot QCA circuits. In particular, weconsider theoretically the effects of temperature, randomvariations in capacitance, and operating speed, on theperformance of a semiinfinite QCA shift register. The paper isorganized as follows: in Section II, we describe the applicationof single-electron tunneling theory to metal QCA devices.Section III describes the characterization of power gain inQCA circuits. In Section IV we analyze the operation of asemi-infinite QCA shift register. Finally, in Section V we
194http://sites.google.com/site/ijcsis/ISSN 1947-5500
(IJCSIS) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,Vol. 8, No. 8, 2010
calculate behavior of the QCA shift register in the limitsof high speed, high temperature, and high defect levels.II.
S
INGLE
E
LECTRON
S
YSTEM
T
HEORY
Metal-dot QCA can be described with the orthodox theoryof coulomb blockade [19]. The circuit is defined by chargeconfigurations, which are determined by the number of electrons on each of the metal islands. Metal islands are regionsof metal surrounded by insulators; at zero temperature theyhold an integer number of charges. The islands play the role of QCA dots and are coupled to other islands and leads throughtunnel junctions (i.e., quantummechanically leaky capacitors)and non-leaky capacitors.Leads by contrast are metal electrodes whose voltages arefixed by external sources. We define dot charge qi as thecharge on island i and qk 0 as the charge on lead k. The freeenergy of charge configuration within the circuit is theelectrostatic energy stored in the capacitors and tunnel junctions minus the work done by the voltage sources [20]:Here C is the capacitance matrix including all the junctionsand capacitors, v is the column vector of lead voltages, and qand q0 are the column vectors of dot charges and lead charges.At zero temperature, the equilibrium charge configuration isthe one that has minimum free energy and the number of charges on each islands is exactly an integer. A tunneling eventhappens at zero temperature only if the free energy is lower forthe final state than for the initial state. At finite temperatures, adot charge need no longer be an integer but is rather a thermalaverage over all possible configurations. A thermally excitedtunneling event may happen even when thefree energy increases. The transition rate of tunneling betweentwo charge configuration states at a certain temperature T isgiven bywhere RT is the tunneling resistance, is the energydifference between the initial state i and final state j.The tunneling events can be described by a masterequation—a conservation law for the temporal change of theprobability distribution function of a physical quantity,
195http://sites.google.com/site/ijcsis/ISSN 1947-5500
(IJCSIS) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,Vol. 8, No. 8, 2010
where P is the vector of state probabilities and is thetransition matrix. From the solution P(t) we can obtain theensemble average of the charge on each dot. We solve Eq. 3directly and find the dot charge as a function of time; from thiswe can obtain any other voltage or charge in the circuit. Inmany systems direct solution of the master equation, whichrequires the enumeration of all the accessible states of thesystem is impractical due to the large set of accessible states.Because QCA operates so near the instantaneous ground stateof the system, complete enumeration of the accessible states ispossible and we need not resort to Monte Carlo methods.III.
P
OWER
G
AIN IN
QCA A robust circuit must have power gain in order to restoresignals weakened due to unavoidable dissipative processes. Inconventional CMOS, the power supply provides the energypower gain. In QCA systems the energy needed for power gainis supplied by the clock. A weak input is augmented by work done by the clock to restore logic levels. Power gain has beenstudied theoretically in molecular QCA circuits [8] andmeasured experimentally in metal-dot QCA circuits [3]. Powergain is defined by the ratio of the work done by the cell on itsneighbor to the right (the output of the cell), to the work doneon the cell by its neighbor to the left (the input to the cell). Thework done on a cell by an input lead coupled through an inputcapacitor C over a time interval T is given bywhere V(t) is the lead voltage, Qc(t) is the charge on the inputcapacitor. We consider the total work done over a clock periodso the cell configuration is the same at t=0 and t=T. The powergain is thus the ratio of output to input signal power W
out
/W
in
,where each sums the work done by (on) all input (output) leads.IV.
O
PERATION OF
S
EMI
-
INFINITE
QCA
S
HIFT
R
EGISTER
The schematic of a clocked half QCA cell is shown inFig.3a. The capacitances are taken to be Cj=1.6 aF, Cg=0.32aF, Cc=0.8 aF, and the tunneling resistance RT=100 kW.Eachisland is grounded through a capacitance of 0.32 aF. Theseare physically reasonable though somewhat better (meaningcapacitances are smaller) than the experiments have so-farachieved. Input is applied to the top and bottom dot throughcoupling capacitors. The potential difference between the topand bottom dots is the output Vcell.The phase diagram of the equilibrium charge stateconfiguration of the cell shown in Fig. 3a is plotted in Fig. 4.The diagram shows the calculated stable regions of chargeconfiguration as a function of input and clock potential. Eachhexagonal region is labeled by three integers (n1, n2, n3), thenumber of elementary charges in the top, middle, and bottomdot, respectively. A positive number indicates an extra holeand negative number represents an extra electron. Eachhexagon represents the configuration state that has, for thosevalues of input voltage and clock voltage, the lowest freeenergy.The clocking cycle can be envisioned as follows. First, asmall input bias is applied, when the clock is high (less
Fig. 3. a Schematic of a clocked triple dot. The input is applied to thetop and bottom dot. The clock is set to the middle dot. The outputdefined as Vcell is the differential potential etween the top and thebottom dot. Cj=1.6 aF, Cg=0.32 aF, Cc=0.8 aF. The capacitor toground is 0.32 aF. RT=100 kW. b Schematic of a shift registercomposed of a line of identical triple dots in a. The thick linedescribed the actual four cells simulated
.negative, in fact for this circuit 0). This situation correspondsto point a in Fig. 4; no electron switching event happens andthe cell remains in the null state, holding no information. Whenthe clock is then lowered (more negative) the system movesalong the line shown through point b. An electron is switchedto either top dot or bottom dot, decided by the input; the cell isthen in the active state. If the clock is held very negative (pointc), the electron is locked in the active state, since the energybarrier in the middle dot is too high to overcome. The lockedcell is essentially a single bit memory—its present statedepends on its state in the recent past, not on the state of neighbors. Varying clock potential gradually between point aand c will switch the cell between null, active and locked stateadiabatically.A QCA shift register can be constructed with a line of capacitively coupled half QCA cells shown in Fig. 3b, wherethe output from each cell acts as the input to its right neighbor.The transport of information from cell to cell is controlled byclock signals. Initially, all the cells are in the null state since theclocks are high. Then an input signal is applied to the first celland the clock for the first cell is lowered. The first cell thusswitches to the opposite state of the input and holds to that stateeven when input is removed.When the clock for the second cell is lowered, the second
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Blemish Tolerance in Cellular Automata And Evaluation Reliability
The computational paradigm known as quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) encodes binary information in the charge configuration of Coulomb-coupled quantum-dot cells. Functioning QCA devices made of metal-dot cells have been fabricated and measured. We focus here on…
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