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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Quantum flux parametron (QFP) shift registers clocked by an inductive power distribution network and errorless operation of the QFP

Juan Casas, R. Kamikawai, Eiichi Goto

Published Mar 1, 1992• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The authors present 4- and 12-b shift registers capable of operating from DC up to 8.56 and 4.24 GHz, respectively. These circuits' total on-chip power dissipation is estimated to be roughly 10 nW. A novel clock current distribution network permits such high clock frequency and such low on-chip power dissipation. The clock is applied as a standing wave and is distributed by inductive division. With this clock current distribution scheme, no power is dissipated along the clock lines. In spite of the circuits' low output amplitude (tens of microvolts) and of the large crosstalk with the clock frequency, the output waveforms are captured in time domain at microwave frequencies. Also, for the 12-b device, 10/sup 15/ error free operations per quantum flux parametron (QFP) are demonstrated. Finally, the 12-b shift register is the largest QFP circuit reported to date; it is composed of 48 QFPs and one DC SQUID.>

DOI
10.1109/77.124925

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IEEE Transactions on Magnetics•Mar 1, 1991•8 citations
The authors present 4- and 12-b shift registers capable of operating from DC up to 8.56 and 4.24 GHz, respectively. These circuits' total on-chip power dissipation is estimated to be roughly 10 nW. A novel clock current distribution network permits such high clock frequency and such low on-chip power dissipation. The clock is applied as a standing wave and is distributed by inductive division. With this clock current distribution scheme, no power is dissipated along the clock lines. In spite of the circuits' low output amplitude (tens of microvolts) and of the large crosstalk with the clock frequency, the output waveforms are captured in time domain at microwave frequencies. Also, for the 12-b device, 10/sup 15/ error free operations per quantum flux parametron (QFP) are demonstrated. Finally, the 12-b shift register is the largest QFP circuit reported to date; it is composed of 48 QFPs and one DC SQUID.>
The Quantum Flux Parametron (QFP) is a SFQ-type logic device which uses a single flux quantum (SFQ) to represent 1-bit of information. QFP circuits use a multi-phase external ac power which also acts as the clock for synchronization, hence QFP circuits are highly pipelined. The clock frequency must be increased to improve the throughputs of the circuits, so the control of a high frequency clock is a key technology for the QFP. This paper describes a clock distribution technique which utilizes the characteristics of a standing wave. Using this technique, the operation of a 1-bit QFP shift register by a 4-phase clock up to 36 GHz is shown. In the 4-phase clock operation of QFPs, the input is given in phase 1, the QFP switches in phase 2, the output is held during phase 3, and the QFP resets in phase 4. Therefore, the 4-phase 36-GHz operation means that each QFP switches or resets in less than 7 ps.>
A quantum flux parametron (QFP), a single quantum flux superconductive device that has a potential of up to 100-GHz switching with nW-order power dissipation, is considered. The potential of the QFP and key technologies when QFPs are applied to a Josephson supercomputer are described. Switching speed, stability, and power dissipation of a QFP are discussed. QFP gates, circuits, and systems are next described. Then, ultra-fast clock distribution using a standing wave is explained. High-speed operation at more than 10 GHz and 10/sup 14/ error-free operations per QFP have been demonstrated. Finally described is a high-density packaging scheme by three-dimensional integration, which is very important for ultra-high speed circuits because the propagation delay becomes dominant in such circuits.>
The quantum-flux parametron (QFP) is a single-flux quantum Josephson device with a high gain of over 20 dB and a low power dissipation of 1-nW order at 10 GHz. Logic and analog circuits using the device have been fabricated and tested. The device's margin may be reduced by a number of problems due to fabrication and design variations such as imbalance of Josephson-junction critical currents, flux loss in transformer self-inductances, and transformer coupling variations. The authors review these problems and describe three auxiliary circuits-booster, puller, and regulator-for alleviating them. A booster reduces the effect of critical current variations and doubles the output. A puller increases the activation current, thus allowing smaller clock signals. A regulator ensures full activation of the QFP over a wide range of activation levels. With these currents, the device has a much improved margin against variations originating from within itself.>
The quantum flux parametron QFP is a very fast superconducting logic device. Previously, the high frequency operation of the QFP was assessed by analysing the output of the device in the frequency domain. This paper shows for the first time that time domain measurements are possible in spite of the low voltage amplitude of the output signal and relatively large crosstalk with the clock frequency. The time-domain waveform of a single-bit shift register with logic inversion working at a clock frequency of 5 GHz is recorded.
As we rapidly advance through the information age, the power consumed by computers, data centers, and networks grows exponentially. This has inspired a race to develop alternative low-power computational technologies. A new adiabatic configuration of a decades-old superconducting digital logic device has darted into the lead called quantum flux parametrons (QFP). QFP operate with dissipation so low that they seemingly violate the laws of thermodynamics. In just a short span of time, they have gone from simple single NOT gates to complex processors containing thousands of gates. They are fabricated from elemental niobium superconductors cooled to just a few degrees above absolute zero. However, their efficiency is so great that for large high-performance computers with several gates, the energy savings are immense. For smaller computational platforms QFPs from high-temperature superconductors (high-Tc) are highly desirable. In this work, we take the first steps towards this goal with the demonstration of a high-T C QFP shift register. Our device is fabricated using focused helium ion beam lithography where the material is modified with an ion beam at the nanoscale to directly pattern these circuits into a high-T C thin film. We validate the correct logical operation at 25 K, over 6 times higher than niobium devices with an estimated bit energy of 0.1 attoJoule at 10 GHz.
The quantum flux parametron (QFP) is a flux-transfer, flux-activated Josephson logic device which realizes much lower power dissipation than other Josephson logic devices. Being a two-terminal device, its correct operation may be affected by coupling to other QFPs. The problems include backcoupling form active QFPs through inactive QFPs (relay noise), coupling between QFPs activated at different times because of clock skew (homophase noise), and interaction between active QFPs (reaction hazard). Previous QFP circuits worked by wired-majority, which is a linear input logic and has low input margin. A logic gate (D-gate) using a QFP to perform logic operations has been analyzed and tested by computer simulation. Relay noise, homophase noise, and reaction hazard are substantially reduced. Moreover, the inputs have little interaction, and hence input margin is greatly improved. Using only D-gates it is possible to realize any combinational logic function. Important logic functions can be realized using one gate, such as a two-input multiplexer, majority, and parity. Since the QFP has a latching effect, D-gates can realize fully pipelined circuits without additional registers.