Superconducting electronics are among the most promising alternatives to conventional CMOS technology, thanks to the ultra-fast speed and ultra-high energy efficiency of the superconducting devices. Having a cryogenic control processor is also a crucial requirement for scaling the existing quantum computers up to thousands of qubits. Despite showing outstanding speed and energy efficiency, Josephson junction-based circuits suffer from several challenges such as flux trapping leading to limited scalability, difficulty in driving high impedances, and so on. Three-terminal cryotron devices have been proposed to solve these issues, which can drive high impedances ( ) and are free from any flux trapping issue. In this work, we develop a reconfigurable logic circuit using a heater cryotron (hTron). In conventional approaches, the number of devices to perform a logic operation typically increases with the number of inputs. However, here, we demonstrate a single hTron device-based logic circuit that can be reconfigured to perform 1-input copy and NOT, 2-input AND and OR, and 3-input majority logic operations by choosing suitable biasing conditions. Consequently, we can perform any processing task with a much smaller number of devices. Also, since we can perform different logic operations with the same circuit (same layout), we can develop a camouflaged system where all the logic gates will have the same layout. Therefore, this proposed circuit will ensure enhanced hardware security against reverse engineering attacks.
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9 October 2023
Research Article|
October 10 2023
Cryogenic reconfigurable logic with superconducting heater cryotron: Enhancing area efficiency and enabling camouflaged processors
Shamiul Alam
;
Shamiul Alam
(Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft)
1
Department of Electrical Eng. & Computer Sci., University of Tennessee
, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA
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Dana S. Rampini
;
Dana S. Rampini
(Data curation)
2
National Institute of Standards and Technology
, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA
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Bakhrom G. Oripov
;
Bakhrom G. Oripov
(Data curation)
2
National Institute of Standards and Technology
, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA
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Adam N. McCaughan
;
Adam N. McCaughan
(Data curation, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Writing – review & editing)
2
National Institute of Standards and Technology
, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA
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Ahmedullah Aziz
Ahmedullah Aziz
a)
(Funding acquisition, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – review & editing)
1
Department of Electrical Eng. & Computer Sci., University of Tennessee
, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]
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a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]
Appl. Phys. Lett. 123, 152603 (2023)
Article history
Received:
August 01 2023
Accepted:
September 26 2023
Citation
Shamiul Alam, Dana S. Rampini, Bakhrom G. Oripov, Adam N. McCaughan, Ahmedullah Aziz; Cryogenic reconfigurable logic with superconducting heater cryotron: Enhancing area efficiency and enabling camouflaged processors. Appl. Phys. Lett. 9 October 2023; 123 (15): 152603. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0170187
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