We propose a new inductive- and resistive- (LR) biased low-power single-flux quantum (SFQ) circuit that has a dynamic resetting mechanism of the bias current. Because the bias current returns to the initial state rapidly by switching of a Josephson junction in the bias circuit after circuit operation, the operating frequency of the LR-biased SFQ circuit can be improved. We simulated a Josephson transmission line (JTL) that employs the proposed biasing scheme and evaluated the bias current recovery time. Circuit simulation results show that the bias current recovery time of the proposed circuit is improved by 10-20% compared to that of the conventional LR-biased JTL. We have designed and measured a 10-stage JTL and an 8-bit concurrent-flow shift register (SR) with the proposed biasing scheme. We have experimentally demonstrated operation of the JTL with the bias margin of ±29.4% at the operating frequency of up to 70.4 GHz and operation of the 8-bit SR up to 12.3 GHz by the on-chip high-speed test.
We propose a new inductive- and resistive- (LR) biased low-power single-flux quantum (SFQ) circuit that has a dynamic resetting mechanism of the bias current. Because the bias current returns to the initial state rapidly by switching of a Josephson junction in the bias circuit after circuit operation, the operating frequency of the LR-biased SFQ circuit can be improved. We simulated a Josephson transmission line (JTL) that employs the proposed biasing scheme and evaluated the bias current recovery time. Circuit simulation results show that the bias current recovery time of the proposed circuit is improved by 10-20% compared to that of the conventional LR-biased JTL. We have designed and measured a 10-stage JTL and an 8-bit concurrent-flow shift register (SR) with the proposed biasing scheme. We have experimentally demonstrated operation of the JTL with the bias margin of ±29.4% at the operating frequency of up to 70.4 GHz and operation of the 8-bit SR up to 12.3 GHz by the on-chip high-speed test.
Superconductive single flux quantum (SFQ) digital circuits can operate at a clock frequency of several tens of gigahertz. However, the operating margin of these circuits decreases with an increase in the operating frequency because a timing error occurs in the low bias region. In this study, a novel design method that enables a wide operating margin at a high operating frequency has been investigated. The proposed circuits incorporate an additional bias feeding line in addition to the conventional bias feeding lines of the conventional Josephson transmission lines (JTLs) and can control the dependence of signal propagation time on the bias voltage. We have shown experimentally that in our proposed JTLs, the signal propagation time becomes more sensitive to the bias voltage. Timing errors can be avoided by inserting proposed JTL cells in the critical data path of the SFQ digital circuits. Circuit simulation results indicate that the operating margin of a bit-serial SFQ full adder, designed assuming the 2.5 kA/cm2Nb process, can be improved by 15% compared with the conventional design at a frequency of 20 GHz by employing our novel design method.
We designed a low-power shift-register memory using single-flux-quantum (SFQ) circuits for bit-serial SFQ microprocessors. In order to reduce the static power consumption of the SFQ memories, LR-biasing SFQ circuits were employed, where the resistance network for supplying the bias current is replaced with the inductance network with small resistance. We implemented a low-power 1 k-bit SFQ shift-register memory and confirmed its 30 GHz operation for all addresses. The power consumption was reduced to 26% of the conventional resistively biased SFQ memories.
Superconducting single flux quantum (SFQ) circuits have been shown to offer huge advantages that are ideal for high performance computing applications. These circuits can operate at very high frequencies (tens of GHz) but consume very low power (from nanowatts to microwatts per gate). Energy-efficient SFQ (ERSFQ) circuits, evolved from traditional rapid SFQ (RSFQ) circuits, were invented with the goal of elimination of static power dissipation. When compared with RSFQ circuits, ERSFQ circuits require a new biasing network that includes biasing Josephson junction(s), biasing inductor(s), and feeding Josephson transmission line(s). Some general suggestions on how to design the network have been offered, but a detailed analysis and optimization scenario for the network is still to be provided. In this paper, we first optimize the previously reported DC-biased two-Josephson junction per bit RSFQ shift register circuit, which can be used to provide a more robust, energy-efficient, and high memory capacity storage unit. The simulated power dissipation of 16-bit RSFQ shift register is 0.45 μW per bit when operating at 21.7 GHz. We then convert the RSFQ-based shift register into an ERSFQ structure and investigate the effects of the ERSFQ bias network on the margins of the ERSFQ circuit. Finally, we propose a more comprehensive optimization method for the ERSFQ biasing network.
To improve circuit density and minimize static power dissipation in Single Flux Quantum (SFQ) circuits, this work investigates the application of inductively biased, unshunted Josephson transmission lines (JTLs) which achieve zero static power, compared with regular resistively biased JTLs. Both simulation and experiment results confirm that unshunted JTLs can reliably propagate SFQ pulses with a bias current margin larger than 50%. Based on this, a new fabrication process has been developed featuring eight niobium (Nb) layers, including two Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb junction layers, a dedicated bias-inductor layer, and dual DC-power layers. The vertical functional separation allows 2 active layers. The 1stactive layer uses conventional shunted JJs for logic gates, while the 2nduses unshunted JTLs with inductive bias. This configuration eliminates static power in the interconnect network and simplifies thermal management in stacked Rapid SFQ (RSFQ) architectures. A ten-stage unshunted JTL chain and a hybrid half-adder were designed and demonstrated. Measurements show a 66.7% reduction in static power and a 64.7% reduction in area compared with the Chinese Academy of Scienceconventional single-JJ-layer process. These results verify, for the first time, that inductively biased unshunted interconnects can be monolithically integrated with standard RSFQ logic, offering a scalable path toward ultra-dense, lower-power multilayer superconducting circuits.
Novel reconfigurable superconductive single flux quantum (SFQ) logic devices, the functions of which can be dynamically reconfigured by inputting control signals, have been investigated. The characteristics of single flux quantum circuits can be easily modulated by applying currents or magnetic fields because of the high sensitivity of superconductive circuits. We investigated several design approaches for the realization of dynamically reconfigurable SFQ logic devices. We employed direct current injection to the logic gate using a non-destructive read-out flip-flop. By changing the internal state of the non-destructive read-out flip-flop, the logic function can be dynamically reconfigured. We have designed and tested a dynamically reconfigurable Josephson transmission line (JTL)/delay flip-flop (DFF) circuit. The measured dc bias margin was 72.5-107.2%. Furthermore, we have demonstrated the operation of a variable bit-length shift register, composed of the dynamically reconfigurable JTL/DFF circuits. The investigated design approach can be applied to more sophisticated dynamically reconfigurable single flux quantum logic gates.
Energy efficiency has become the primary parameter for the design of next-generation single flux quantum (SFQ) circuits. This, however, needs to be balanced with optimization for clock speed and bias margins. Here, we experimentally study the tradeoff between circuit activity, energy efficiency, and bias margins for zero static power dissipation ERSFQ circuits. For ERSFQ, dc power is provided by a Josephson transmission line (JTL) called a “feeding” JTL (FJTL), which acts as a voltage source. As a test case, shift registers and multiplexers were laid out and fabricated in both HYPRES's and MIT-LL's 10-kA/cm2fabrication processes and tested at low (~kHz) and high (~GHz) clock frequencies. The functional bias margins for these circuits increase significantly from +/-4% to over +/-19% when the Josephson junction count in the FJTL was increased to ~30% of total dc bias current of the circuit. Based on our findings, we discuss how to optimize ERSFQ circuits for both energy efficiency and dc bias margins.