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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Rapid single flux quantum (RSFQ) shift register family

Oleg A. Mukhanov

Published Mar 1, 1993• 79 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The author presents the design and test results for a novel, buffered RSFQ shift register. The register design makes it possible to build a circular 64-b shift register which is insensitive to the clock pulse direction within the experimentally measured DC bias margin of +or-15%. The implementation of a large variety of unidirectional shift registers using either a buffered or a two-Josephson-junction cell design confirms an expected wide DC bias margin of +or-30% (for a 32-b) and high speed, up to 60 GHz (for a 4-b register). Among these circuits is a 256-b shift register. To the author's knowledge, this is the largest RSFQ circuit (533 junctions) reported to date. This shift register was tested to have a DC bias margin of +or-6% and proper high-speed operation up to 12 GHz.>

DOI
10.1109/77.233529

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Testing on a single-flux-quantum (SFQ) shift register fabricated with a SFQ Nb-AlO/sub x/Nb Josephson junction process indicates that a stable flux quantum can be stored in a rapid SFQ (RSFQ) shift register stage and be shifted by SFQ pulses. Design simulations showed that logic errors can occur in SFQ shift registers even though the circuit passes the average voltage test. Three-junction-per-stage shift registers had an advantage over the two-junction-per-stage shift register in handling data with successive 1's and in incorporating resistors to increase tolerance of trapped magnetic flux. Input and output buffers for data and clock pulses were added to get an RSFQ shift register to obtain correct performance. The highest error-free operation speed for the data with successive 1's is about half of the speed for propagation of a lone data 1. Error-free operation of SFQ shift registers with three junctions per stage could be obtained up to speeds of 30-60 GHz with Josephson junctions having I/sub c/R/sub n/ (critical-current-normal-resistance product) values of 600 mu V.>

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Experimental superconducting shift registers consisting of on-chip clock generators, clock regeneration and distribution circuits, shift register elements, and readout circuits are designed using rapid single flux quantum logic/memory (RSFQ) gates. A 7-b shift register has been tested to 12 GHz and a 17-b to 21 GHz using external triggering clocks with relative delay measurements. Testing with internal clocks generated from Josephson oscillations shows a potential high-speed operation of 45 GHz for the 7-b and 30 GHz for the 17-b shift registers. Two types of magnetically coupled readout gates are discussed. The chips are fabricated using a Nb/AlO/sub /x/Nb Josephson-junction process at a critical-current density of 1000 A/cm/sup 2/. The power dissipation per bit is 3 mu W.>

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Masamitsu Tanaka, Misaki Kozaka, Yuma Kita +3 more

We designed and fabricated rapid single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) circuits using a new 20-kA/cm2process based on conventional Nb/AlOx/Nb Josephson junction (JJ) technology. Circular JJs were fabricated to improve their uniformity. They had sufficiently low spread of the critical currents for large-scale RSFQ circuits. We selected the circuit design parameters carefully, including the bias voltage and McCumber-Stewart parameter, balancing the energy consumption, switching speeds, margins, and integration density. We demonstrated several logic gates and shift registers at a clock frequency of 154 GHz with the designed bias voltage of 2.5 mV, and demonstrated energy-efficient shift registers using the low-voltage RSFQ (LV-RSFQ) technique at 83 GHz.

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity•Oct 27, 2014•11 citations
The author presents the design and test results for a novel, buffered RSFQ shift register. The register design makes it possible to build a circular 64-b shift register which is insensitive to the clock pulse direction within the experimentally measured DC bias margin of +or-15%. The implementation of a large variety of unidirectional shift registers using either a buffered or a two-Josephson-junction cell design confirms an expected wide DC bias margin of +or-30% (for a 32-b) and high speed, up to 60 GHz (for a 4-b register). Among these circuits is a 256-b shift register. To the author's knowledge, this is the largest RSFQ circuit (533 junctions) reported to date. This shift register was tested to have a DC bias margin of +or-6% and proper high-speed operation up to 12 GHz.>
Rapid single flux quantum (RSFQ) 512-bit and 1024-bit shift registers have been demonstrated. These are the longest superconducting shift registers reported to date, employing 1045 and 2069 Josephson junctions, respectively. The circuit functionality has been confirmed with dc bias margins of +or-23% and +or-14% for the 512-bit and the 1024-bit shift registers, respectively. The 512-bit shift register has been tested to 20 GHz and 1024-bit register to 19 GHz using an external clock trigger with relative delay measurements at single and double SFQ clock frequencies. The shift registers with the same design have been used for successful implementation of the acquisition shift register (ASR) memory for the projected transient digitizer. These shift registers have the ability to acquire data at high speeds (gigahertz range), statically hold the acquired data, and then read-out the data into conventional room-temperature electronics at low speeds (megahertz range). A 32-bit ASR has been tested up to 18 GHz (the limit of our test setup), and a 1024-bit ASR-up to 16 GHz of acquisition rates, both at 33 MHz read-out frequency. Total power dissipation is about 1 mW for the 1024-bit circuit. The chips are fabricated using Hypres' Nb/AlO/sub x//Nb process with a junction critical current density of 1.0 kA/cm/sup 2/.>
We have designed and experimentally verified a test bench for high frequency testing of Rapid Single Flux Quantum (RSFQ) circuits. This test bench uses an external tuneable clock signal that is stable in amplitude, phase and frequency. The high frequency external clock reads out the clock pattern stored in a long shift-register. The clock pattern is consequently shifted out at high speed and splitted to feed both the circuit under test and an additional shift register in the test bench for later verification at low speed. This method can be employed for reliable high speed verification of RSFQ circuit operation, with use of only low speed readout electronics. The test bench consists of 158 Josephson junctions and occupied area is 3300 * 660 (mikro meter)^2. It was\nexperimentally verified up to 33 GHz with +- 21.7 % margins on the global bias supply current.
Testing on a single-flux-quantum (SFQ) shift register fabricated with a SFQ Nb-AlO/sub x/Nb Josephson junction process indicates that a stable flux quantum can be stored in a rapid SFQ (RSFQ) shift register stage and be shifted by SFQ pulses. Design simulations showed that logic errors can occur in SFQ shift registers even though the circuit passes the average voltage test. Three-junction-per-stage shift registers had an advantage over the two-junction-per-stage shift register in handling data with successive 1's and in incorporating resistors to increase tolerance of trapped magnetic flux. Input and output buffers for data and clock pulses were added to get an RSFQ shift register to obtain correct performance. The highest error-free operation speed for the data with successive 1's is about half of the speed for propagation of a lone data 1. Error-free operation of SFQ shift registers with three junctions per stage could be obtained up to speeds of 30-60 GHz with Josephson junctions having I/sub c/R/sub n/ (critical-current-normal-resistance product) values of 600 mu V.>
Experimental superconducting shift registers consisting of on-chip clock generators, clock regeneration and distribution circuits, shift register elements, and readout circuits are designed using rapid single flux quantum logic/memory (RSFQ) gates. A 7-b shift register has been tested to 12 GHz and a 17-b to 21 GHz using external triggering clocks with relative delay measurements. Testing with internal clocks generated from Josephson oscillations shows a potential high-speed operation of 45 GHz for the 7-b and 30 GHz for the 17-b shift registers. Two types of magnetically coupled readout gates are discussed. The chips are fabricated using a Nb/AlO/sub /x/Nb Josephson-junction process at a critical-current density of 1000 A/cm/sup 2/. The power dissipation per bit is 3 mu W.>
Some basic cells in the rapid single-flux quantum (RSFQ) family of superconductive logic circuits were studied. An input stage, a buffer, and an OR gate were simulated and laid out for a standard niobium-based fabrication process. The resulting circuits perform properly for clock speeds up to 1 GHz. For the simpler circuits tested, the measured margins are wide, consistent with simulations, and not very dependent on clock speed. However, margin decreases with increased circuit complexity. The input stage converts a rising edge into an SFQ pulse, which has a small amplitude and narrow width in time. On the present circuits, these pulses are about 200 mu V in amplitude and 10 ps in width. To facilitate measurement, the authors have chosen as the output an asymmetrical superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) consisting of two Josephson junctions. It converts SFQ pulses into 2.5 mV latching output levels on chip. By inductively coupling SFQ pulses into the SQUID loop, DC current isolation between the RSFQ circuit-under-test and the output stage is provided. The SQUID was optimized for 2 GHz operations.>
Rapid Single-Flux-Quantum Circuits Fabricated Using 20-kA/cm2\hbox{20}\hbox{-}\hbox{kA}/\hbox{cm}^{2}20-kA/cm2 Nb/AlOx/Nb\hbox{Nb}/\hbox{AlO}_{x}/\hbox{Nb}Nb/AlOx​/Nb Process
We designed and fabricated rapid single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) circuits using a new 20-kA/cm2process based on conventional Nb/AlOx/Nb Josephson junction (JJ) technology. Circular JJs were fabricated to improve their uniformity. They had sufficiently low spread of the critical currents for large-scale RSFQ circuits. We selected the circuit design parameters carefully, including the bias voltage and McCumber-Stewart parameter, balancing the energy consumption, switching speeds, margins, and integration density. We demonstrated several logic gates and shift registers at a clock frequency of 154 GHz with the designed bias voltage of 2.5 mV, and demonstrated energy-efficient shift registers using the low-voltage RSFQ (LV-RSFQ) technique at 83 GHz.