Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA)

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Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA)
1 Introduction
In this chapter you will learn about a promising future nanotechnology for computing. It
takes great advantage of a physical effect the Coulomb force that interacts between
electrons. !here also e"ists an alternative implementation that uses magnetic fields# but
this practical course will not cover magnetic QCA for now. !hough it is still difficult to
produce and operate with these devices under typical temperature conditions# simulations
predict promising numbers# like theoretical clock rates of several !$%.
2 The QCA cell
In contrast to electronics based on transistors# QCA does not operate by the transport of
electrons# but by the ad&ustment of electrons in a small limited area of only a few s'uare
nanometers. QCA is implemented by 'uadratic cells# the so-called QCA cells. In these
s'uares# e"actly four potential wells are located# one in each corner of the QCA cell (see
figure (). In the QCA cells# e"actly two electrons are locked in. !hey can only reside in the
potential wells.
!he potential wells are connected with electron tunnel &unctions. !hey can be opened for
the electrons to travel through them under a particular condition# by a clock signal. A later
chapter will cover this in more detail. )ithout any interaction from outside# the two
electrons will try to separate from each other as far as possible# due to the Coulomb force
that interacts between them. As a result# they will reside in diagonal ly located potential
wells# because the diagonal is the largest possible distance for them to reside (see figure *
).
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Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA)
!here are two diagonals in a s'uare# which means the electrons can reside in e"actly two
possible ad&ustments in the QCA cell. 1egarding these two arrangements# they are
interpreted as a binary 2,2 and binary 2(2# i.e. each cell can be in two states. !he state 2,2
and the state 2(2# as shown in figure 3. A binary system is something familiar# as boolean
logic is used already in today2s computers. !here# a high voltage is often interpreted as
binary 2(2 and a low voltage as binary 2,2.
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Figure 1: Anatomy of a QCA cell
Cell substrate
4otential well
.lectron tunnel &unction
Figure 2: Electrons in potential wells
.lectron in potential well
.mpty potential well
Figure 3: Binary interpretation
of adjustments
5inary , 5inary (
Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA)
3 Information and data propagation
If two QCA cells are placed ne"t to each other# it is possible to e"change their states# i.e.
the ad&ustments of the electrons in them. !he QCA cell that should transfer its state to a
neighboring cell must have its tunnel &unctions closed# the tunnel &unctions in the
neighboring cell have to be open# to allow the electrons to travel through the tunnel
&unctions between the potential wells. As soon as they open# the electrons in the
neighboring cell are pushed by the Coulomb force of the original cell as far away as
possible. As they also are pushed away from each other# they will travel into the same
potential wells as in the original cell. As soon as the tunnel &unctions are closed again# the
transfer of the state is completed.
!he state of a cell can also be transferred to multiple neighboring cells. It works the very
same way as with a single neighbor cell# but the tunnel &unctions of all the se'uentially
neighboring cells should be open at the same time# which makes the transfer much faster
then transferring the state cell by cell. !his allows us to build 6wires7# made of QCA cells# to
transport information over larger distances.
4 Basic QCA elements and gates
8o far# we know how to interpret and transport information with QCA cells# but yet we lack
the possibility for computations. 9or QCA cells the basic gate is a three-input ma&ority
voter. It is built from five cells# arranged as a cross.
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Figure 4: QCA majority oter
Input A
Input 5
Input C
:a&ority output
Ad&usts to ma&ority of
surrounding Coulomb forces
Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA)
4.1 QCA a!orit" #oter
9rom physics# it is know that the Coulomb forces of several electrons sum up. !he ma&ority
voter takes advantage of this effect. !he cells on top# at the left and at the bottom work as
input connection cells. As the Coulomb forces of the electrons of all input cells sum up# the
middle cell ad&usts to the ma&ority of ad&ustments of the input connection cells. 9inally the
output cell ad&usts to the middle cell and the resulting state of the ma&ority vote can be
obtained from the output cell.
4.2 QCA AN$ gate
As we work in the field of QCA with the known binary representation# it is preferable to
have further logic gates we are already familiar with. 5y a slight modification# it is possible
to turn the ma&ority voter into an A/; gate.
!he boolean A/; outputs ( if all inputs are (# otherwise ,. 1egarding two inputs of the
ma&ority voter# as the inputs of an A/; gate# and the voter should not output ( if only one
of the two inputs is one# a fi"ed cell is added as third input# that always is in the , state. If
both A/; inputs are (# the two (s sum up to a stronger Coulomb force than the single
fi"ed , cell and the ma&ority voter is turned into a two-input A/; gate (see figure <). !he
fi"ed cell can be obtained by setting it to the , state and never open the electron tunnel
&unctions.
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Figure !: QCA A"# gate
Input A
Input 5
9i"ed ,
A/; output
Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA)
4.3 QCA %& gate
!he >1 gate is built almost e"actly like the A/; gate# but instead of a fi"ed ,# a fi"ed (
QCA cell must be attached as one input. !he fi"ed ( cell sums up to a stronger Coulomb
force with a single other input being ad&usted to (# so that the >1 gate will output (# if one
of the free inputs is (.
4.4 QCA N%T gate
It is also possible to build a QCA />! gate. !he implementation in QCA takes advantage
of geometry of cell ad&ustments. >ne QCA wire is forked to two wires# the switch of the cell
ad&ustment takes place by putting the output cell ne"t to the forked wires so that only
corners are touching. 8ince only cell corners are touching right of the fork and the cells at
the end of the fork will have the same ad&ustment and the cell on the right of the fork will
not ad&ust with an electron close to an electron at the corner at the end of the fork# the
ad&ustment right of the fork will be inverted. !his makes a ( at the input a , at the output
and vice versa.
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Figure $: QCA %& gate
Input A
Input 5
9i"ed ,
A/; output
Figure ': QCA "%( gate
Input , >utput (
Inversion of the data
Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA)
' ("mmetric cells and special cell arrangements
;uring the design of a QCA circuit# the situation is likely to occur# that QCA wires have to
be crossed. In contrast to classic transistor technology# where wires can only cross on by
inserting another layer# QCA wires can be crossed in the same layer. !his works by
introducing a QCA cell type# where the four potential wells are not in the corners of the cell
but in the middle of the edges (see figure ?).
If several of these QCA cells are put together to form a wire# the ad&ustment of the
succeeding cell is the inverted to its predecessor and so on. !he advantage of this type of
QCA cell originates from its symmetric effect of Coulomb force on regular cells. !hough the
electrons indeed interact with electrons in neighboring regular QCA cells# but by the
symmetry they do not push the electrons in regular QCA cells to a particular ad&ustment. In
the other direction# electrons in a regular cell do not push the electrons in a symmetric cell
into a particular potential well. !his allows building wire crossings of these QCA cells with
regular ones. A crossing is built by a continuous wire of special cells# building a gap in
across a wire of regular cells.
>f course# it has to be possible to connect symmetric QCA cells to regular ones and vice
versa. !his works by putting a regular cell as a neighbor of two symmetric cells near the
beginning or end of a wire of symmetric cells. >ne has to take car which two symmetric
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Figure ): *ymmetric
adjusta+le QCA cell
, (
Figure ,: QCA wire crossing
,
(
(
,
Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA)
cells are chosen# as neighbors of this type are in the inverted ad&ustment# depending on
the needed ad&ustment# the original or the inverted one (see figure (,).
) Cloc* +ones
Clock %ones are a tricky challenge of QCA. !hey avoid random ad&ustments of QCA cells
and 6guide7 the information flow# in particular the data propagation# through QCA circuits.
In contrast to transistor-based circuits# one clock cycle consists of four clock signals# which
are delayed by A of the whole clock cycle among each other# as depicted in figure ((.
!he figures in this chapter will always show clock %ones like clock ,# clock ( and so on.
!his is for convenience# of course you can also read it as clock n# clock nB(# clock nB*.
Important is# that particular groups of QCA cells are in different clock %ones.
)hen the clock signal is high# it opens the electron tunnel &unctions in QCA cells. >pened
tunnel &unctions allow the two electrons in a QCA cell to travel between potential wells.
;epending on the surrounding Coulomb forces around the QCA cell# the electrons will
travel to respective potential wells.
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Figure 1-: Connections +etween symmetric and regular QCA cells
Input ,
>utput (
Figure 11: (.e four s.ifted cloc/ signals
Clock ,
Clock (
Clock *
Clock 3
Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA)
!o successfully propagate data through a QCA wire# the clock %ones in the wire must be
connected to successive clock signals in the direction of the wanted data propagation (see
figure (*). !his allows the QCA circuit designer to guide information in a controlled manner
through the circuit.
!here is a rough upper limit for the si%e of one clock %one. In QCA wires with almost no
other QCA cells near the wire# i.e. with no Coulomb force 6noise7 from the surrounding#
clock %ones can be large. In areas with QCA cells around the wire# the clock %ones must
be smaller. !here is no strict rule for the si%e of a clock %one dependent on the
surrounding noise# but in general it turns out that in noisy areas clock %ones might have to
be as small as only two QCA cells. In areas with almost no noise# clock %ones can be built
as large as (*-(= QCA cells.
!hough there are no strict rules where to begin and end a clock %one# there is some best-
practice# how to put clock %ones around the basic gates# presented in the previous
chapters. )hen you design QCA circuits# we strongly recommend to stick to these clock
%ones# there e"ist only very rare cases where clock %ones around the basic gates can
differ without affecting a reliable data propagation.
).1 N%T gate cloc* +ones
8ince the />! gate has a slightly critical %one of arranged QCA cells# it2s important to put
the cells in the proper clock %ones to avoid randomly flipped ad&ustments of electrons near
the forking wire.
!he clock %one of the input should end at the beginning of the 6fork7. !he complete fork
itself# i.e. the --shaped wire# should be in the subse'uent clock %one of the input and the
output should be in the subse'uent clock %one of the fork.
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Figure 12: Controlling data propagation in a QCA wire
Clock ,
/o shift
Clock (
8hifted by (D=
Clock *
8hifted by (D*
Clock 3
8hifted by 3D=
Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA)
).2 a!orit" #oter cloc* +ones
9or the ma&ority voter it is important# that all cells are in the same clock %one. 4utting some
cells in different clock %ones can lead to wrong results. !he center cell and the three input
plus the output cell have to be in the same clock %one.
).3 ,ire crossing cloc* +ones
!hough it was mentioned before# that the symmetric special QCA cells do not affect
regular ones in a wire crossing# this is only true when special cells are in a stable state# i.e.
the clock signal is low and both electrons reside in potential wells. If the electrons are
traveling through the tunnel &unctions# they may have an asymmetric effect on neighboring
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Figure 13: QCA "%( gate cloc/ 0ones
Clock ,
Clock (
Clock *
Input >utput
Figure 14: QCA majority oter cloc/ 0ones
Input A
Input 5
Input C
>utput
Clock (
Clock ,
Clock *
Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA)
regular QCA cells# potentially pushing them into a wrong ad&ustment. !o avoid this effect#
crossing wires should be in different clock %ones.
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Figure 1!: QCA wire crossing cloc/
0ones
Clock , Clock ,
Clock (
Figure 1$: 1 +it adder implemented in QCA
Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA)
- QCA circuit design
QCA is a technology# not yet being ready for the market. As a result# you will design and
simulate QCA circuits. 9or this# you will use the QCA;esigner software which allows
design of circuits with an easy to use graphical user interface. !he simulation is also done
with QCA;esigner. )e chose QCA;esigner# as it is the most realistic simulator from a
physical point of view# so your simulations will be very e"act.
!he very realistic simulation allows you to detect disturbances of neighboring QCA cells or
cell areas that should not interact with each other. As a first e"ample for a complete QCA
circuit# we begin with a ( bit adder as shown in figure (@.
;ifferent colors mean different clock %ones# beginning with green# cyan# light blue and
white. !he blue QCA cells# labeled A and 5# are input cells of the adder. As you can see#
both type of cells# symmetric and regular ones# are used in this circuit# because it re'uires
wire crossings. !he four orange cells are 6fi"ed7 cells to build A/; and >1 gates from
ma&ority voters. !he yellow cells are output cells# labeled 8 for sum and C for the carry bit.
If you follow the clock %ones in each path of the circuit# you will see# that the adder needs *
A clock cycles to display the result at the output cells# i.e. the data in each path travels
through E se'uential clock signals.
It is also possible to verify that the QCA adder is correct. A simple ( bit adder can be
described by these two formulas *=

A BA B and C=AB . !his means that the output

8 should become ( when either A is , but 5 is ( or when A is ( but 5 is ,. C should
become ( when A and 5 are (. !hese formulas are implemented in our QCA ( bit adder. If
one follows the inputs to the top half of the circuit# there once A# once 5# are negated and
connected to the not negated other input in an A/; gate. /ear the output 8 is the >1
gate. C can be verified easily# the inputs are connected in the A/; gate at the bottom of
the circuit.
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