Modeling nanoelectronic CNN cells: CMOS, SETs and QCAs

References We investigate the use of nanoelectronic structures in cellular nonlinear network (CNN) architectures, for future high-density and low-power CMOS-nanodevice hybrid circuits. We present simulation results for Single Electron Tunneling (SET) transistors configured as a voltage-to-current transducer for CNN cells. We also present an example of quantum-dot cellular arrays which may be used to realize binary CNN algorithms. Nanoelectronics offers the promise of ultra-low power and ultra-high integration density. Several device structures have been proposed and realized experimentally, yet the main challenge remains the organization of these devices in new circuit architectures. For an introduction into this problem area, see the review Here, we investigate the use of nanodevices in cellular nonlinear network (CNN) architectures [2-41. Specifically, we focus on nanostructures based on single-electron tunneling (SET) devices [5-91 and Coulomb-coupled quantum-dot arrays, the so-called Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata (QCA) [ 10-131. CNN-type architectures for nanostructures are motivated by the following considerations: On the one hand, locally-interconnected architectures appear to be natural for nanodevices where some of the connectivity may be provided by direct physical device-device interactions. On the other hand, CNN arrays with sizes on the order of 1000-by-1000 (which are desirable for applications such as image processing) will require the use of nanostmctures since such integration densities are beyond what can be achieved by scaling conventional CMOS devices. paper [ 11. Acknowledgements. This work was supported in part of the U.S. Office of Naval Research MURI program and by a joint grant of the National Science Foundation and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. * Electrical Engineering, Arizona State University, USA. # Electrical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, USA ‘ Technical University Budapest, HUNGARY. 0-7803-5482-6/99/$10.00 ‘2000 IEEE [ I ] A.I. Csurgay, “The Circuit Paradigm in Nanoelectronics,” Proc. ECCTD’97,240-246 (1997). [2] L.O. Chua and L. Yang, “Cellular Neural Networks: Theory,” IEEE Trans. CAS, v.35, 1257-1272 (1998); and “CNN: Applications,” ibid. 1273-1290. [3] CNN Software Library (Templates and Algorithms) V 7.2, Analogical and Neural Computing Laboratory, Computer and Automation Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1998. [4] I. Baktir and M. Tan, “Analog CMOS implementation of CNN,” IEEE Trans. CAS 11, v. 40,200-206 (1993). [5] H. Grabert and M.H. Devoret, (Eds.) Single Charge Tunneling, Coulomb Blockade Phenomena in Nanostructures, NATO AS1 Series B:Physics Vol. 294 (Plenum, New York, 1992). J.R. Tucker, “Complementary Digital Logic Based on the Coulomb Blockade,” J. App. Phys., v. 72, 4399 (1992). R.H. Chen, A.N. Korotkov, and K.K. Likharev, “Single electron transistor logic,” Applied Physics Letters, v. 68, no.14, 1954-1956 (1996). C. Wasshuber and H. Kosina, “SIMON: A Single-Electron Device and Circuit Simulator”, Superlattices and Microstructures, v. 21, 37 (1997). Y.S. Yu, H.S. Lee, and S.W. Hwang, “SPICE Macromodeling for the Compact Simulation of Single Electron Circuits,” J . Korean Phys. Soc. 33, Suppl. S269-S272 (1998). [lo] C.S. Lent, P.D. Tougaw, W. Porod, and G.H. Bemstein, “Quantum Cellular Automata,” Nanotechnology, v. 4, [ l l ] W. Porod, “Computing with Coupled Quantum Dots: Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata and Cellular Nonlinear Networks,” Proc. ECCTD’97, 248-253 (1997). [12] C.S. Lent, “Dynamics of Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata Cells,” Proc. ECCTD’97, pp. 254-258. [13] C.S. Lent and P.D. Tougaw, “A device architecture for computing with quantum dots”, Proc. IEEE, v. 85, 541 (1997). [6]