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Architecture for an external input into a molecular QCA circuit

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Abstract

A simple architecture for data input into a molecular quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) circuit from an external CMOS circuit is proposed. A “T”-shaped interconnect, utilizing fixed-polarization cells to provide the desired polarization, is controlled via external electrodes connected to a standard CMOS input driver. The applied input signal is used to gate either the propagation of a fixed polarization, P=+1, or that of the complementary fixed polarization, P=−1, into the QCA circuit. The architecture utilizes the field-driven clocking scheme proposed in recent literature to achieve transduction between applied input voltage and a molecular configuration. The system is modelled using the coherence vector formalism with a three-state basis and simulated using the QCADesigner simulation tool.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, 2332 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4

    Konrad Walus, Faizal Karim & André Ivanov

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  1. Konrad Walus
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  2. Faizal Karim
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  3. André Ivanov
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Correspondence to Faizal Karim.

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Walus, K., Karim, F. & Ivanov, A. Architecture for an external input into a molecular QCA circuit. J Comput Electron 8, 35–42 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10825-009-0268-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10825-009-0268-0

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