Adiabatic quantum-flux-parametron (AQFP) logic is an energy-efficient superconductor logic family. In this paper, we conducted high-frequency operation and energy measurement of an AQFP circuit with more than 1,000 Josephson junctions in the experiment. We designed an 8-bit carry look-ahead adder (CLA) using AQFP gates and fabricated it using an advanced fabrication technology, the AIST 10 kA/cm 2 Nb high-speed standard process (HSTP). The correct operation of the 8-bit CLA was demonstrated at a 1-GHz clock frequency for a critical carry propagation test vector. The energy dissipation of the 8-bit CLA was measured by observing the power of excitation current. Our results showed that the energy dissipation per operation of the 8-bit CLA can be estimated to be approximately 1.5 aJ, or 24 kBT per junction, where kB is the Boltzmann's constant and T is the operating temperature.
Adiabatic Quantum-Flux-Parametron (AQFP) logic is an adiabatic superconductor logic family that has been proposed as a future technology towards building extremely energy-efficient computing systems. In AQFP logic, dynamic energy dissipation can be drastically reduced due to the adiabatic switching operations using AC excitation currents, which serve as both clock signals and power supplies. As a result, AQFP could overcome the power/energy dissipation limitation in conventional superconductor logic families such as rapid-single-flux-quantum (RSFQ). Simulation and experimental results show that AQFP logic can achieve an energy-delay-product (EDP) near quantum limit using practical circuit parameters and available fabrication processes. To shed some light on the design automation and guidelines of AQFP circuits, in this paper we present an automatic synthesis framework for AQFP and perform synthesis on 18 circuits, including 11 ISCAS-85 circuit benchmarks, 6 deep-learning accelerator components, and a 32-bit RISC-V ALU, based on our developed standard cell library of AQFP technology. Synthesis results demonstrate the significant advantage of AQFP technology. We forecast 9,313×, 25,242× and 48,466× energy-per-operation advantage, compared to the synthesis results of TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) 12 nm fin field-effect transistor (FinFET), 28 nm and 40 nm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology nodes, respectively.
The adiabatic quantum-flux-parametron (AQFP) is an energy-efficient superconductor logic element based on the quantum flux parametron. AQFP circuits can operate with energy dissipation near the thermodynamic and quantum limits by maximizing the energy efficiency of adiabatic switching. We have established the design methodology for AQFP logic and developed various energy-efficient systems using AQFP logic, such as a low-power microprocessor, reversible computer, single-photon image sensor, and stochastic electronics. We have thus demonstrated the feasibility of the wide application of AQFP logic in future information and communications technology. In this paper, we present a tutorial review on AQFP logic to provide insights into AQFP circuit technology as an introduction to this research field. We describe the historical background, operating principle, design methodology, and recent progress of AQFP logic.
Adiabatic quantum-flux-parametron (AQFP) logic is an energy-efficient superconductor logic. It operates with zero static power dissipation and very low dynamic power dissipation owing to adiabatic switching. In previous numerical studies, we have evaluated the energy dissipation of basic AQFP logic gates and demonstrated sub-kBT switching energy, where kB is Boltzmann's constant and T is the temperature, by integrating the product of the excitation current and voltage associated with the gates over time. However, this method is not applicable to complex logic gates, especially those in which the number of inputs is different from the number of outputs. In the present study, we establish a systematic method to evaluate the energy dissipation of general AQFP logic gates. In the proposed method, the energy dissipation is calculated by subtracting the energy dissipation of the peripheral circuits from that of the entire circuit. In this way, the energy change due to the interaction between gates, which makes it difficult to evaluate the energy dissipation, can be deducted. We evaluate the energy dissipation of a MAJ gate using this method.
Reversible logic circuits can perform logic operations in a thermodynamically reversible manner, or without energy dissipation. The reversible quantum-flux-parametron (RQFP) is a reversible logic gate using adiabatic superconductor logic. In the present study, we design and demonstrate a reversible full adder (RFA) using RQFP gates in order to demonstrate that RQFP gates can be used as building blocks to design reversible logic circuits. An analysis of the time evolution of the phase differences across the Josephson junctions in the RFA showed that its logic state can change quasi-statically during a logic operation. Calculation of the energy dissipation of the RFA showed that it decreases in proportion to the operating frequency. These numerical calculation results ensure that the RFA is thermodynamically and logically reversible. In addition, we experimentally demonstrated correct operation of the RFA for all input data combinations. These results reveal that logic circuits designed using RQFP gates can perform reversible computing, i.e., RQFP gates can be used as building blocks of reversible logic circuits.
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