Date: Tuesday 26 March 2019
Time: 17:00 - 18:30
Location / Room: Exh. Theatre

Organisers:
Jamil Kawa, Synopsys, US
Massoud Pedram, USC, US

Chair:
Jamil Kawa, Synopsys, US

Superconductive electronics (SCE) based on single flux quantum (SFQ) family of logic cells has appeared as a potent and within-reach "beyond-CMOS" technology. With proven switching speeds in 100's of GHz and energy dissipation approaching 10^(-19) Joules per transition (and lower for the adiabatic family), it is one of the most promising post-CMOS technologies that can break the current performance limit of 4 or so GHz CMOS processors, delivering a 30GHz single-threaded performance for a SCE processor. The state-of-the-art in terms of libraries, simulation and analysis, compact modeling, synthesis, physical design of SFQ-based logic is far behind that of CMOS, with semi-manual design of 16-bit SFQ adders, simple filters and ADCs, and bit-serial processors defining the state-of-the-art. To fulfill the potential of SCE logic families, it is essential that design methodologies and tools are developed to enable fully automated design of SCE VLSI circuits and processors on chip. The ac- and dc-biased SFQ logic families (such as RSFQ, ERSFQ, and AQFP) are, however, fundamentally different from CMOS logic families, for example, in terms of their reliance on two-terminal Josephson junctions with complex voltage-current (current-phase) behavior, cryogenic operation, pulse-based signaling, prevalence of inductors as key passive element, clocked nature of most logic cells and need for path balancing, limited fanout count of typically 2 or 3, use of biasing currents as the power source, etc. This tutorial aims at introducing the SCE SFQ technology starting from JJ device modeling and simulation to compact modeling of logic cells and superconductive transmission lines, to specialized logic synthesis, clock tree synthesis, bias distribution, and place&route engines.

Time	Label	Presentation Title Authors
17:00	4.8.1	PHYSICS-BASED MODELING AND DEVICE SIMULATION OF JOSEPHSON JUNCTIONS Author: Pooya Jannaty, Synopsys, US Abstract This tutorial will take a brief survey of the physics of Josephson-junction devices under equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions using self-consistent quantum mean-field theory. The formation of Cooper pairs and the superconducting gap as well as the supercurrent and quasi-particle tunneling mechanism for a device under phase bias is studied. In non-equilibrium, the Floquet theory is used to model and simulate the frequency-domain behavior of the Josephson junctions under externally-applied voltage bias. Such physical phenomena as the proximity effect, the Andreev bound states, the multiple Andreev reflections, as well as the effect of barrier height, temperature, and disorder are discussed, and simulation results using Synopsys tools employing nonequilibrium Green's function formalism are presented.
17:30	4.8.2	ARCHITECTURES, SYNTHESIS FLOW, AND PLACE & ROUTE ENGINE FOR DC-BIASED SFQ LOGIC CIRCUITS Author: Massoud Pedram, USC, US Abstract tbd
18:00	4.8.3	LIBRARY DESIGN AND DESIGN TOOLS FOR ADIABATIC QUANTUM-FLUX-PARAMETRON LOGIC CIRCUITS (AC-BIASED SFQ LOGIC) Author: Nobuyuki Yoshikawa, Yokohama National University, JP Abstract Adiabatic quantum-flux-parametron (AQFP) logic is one of the superconducting logic families. Its attractive feature is the extremely high-energy efficiency due to the adiabatic operation of superconducting circuits that can intrinsically switch at very high speed. The bit energy of the AQFP logic is as small as 1 zJ (10-21 J) per gate even at 5 GHz or higher clock frequencies thanks to the logic operation near the quantum and thermal limit. The fundamental logic element of the AQFP logic is majority gates, which are driven by sinusoidal power clocks of multi-phases, typically four phases. The gate-to-gate connections are made by inductances with limited length. These unique features of the AQFP logic circuits make it difficult to use the existent EDA tools for CMOS circuits. We will show recent our development of a top-down design flow for AQFP logic circuits, which is composed of logic synthesis, logic simulation, and automated place & routing by using our HDL model and the physical layouts of the logic cells. Several AQFP circuits, such as carry-look-ahead adders, decoders, and shifters, were successfully demonstrated by using this approach. Perspective and challenges for designing large-scale AQFP circuits will be discussed based on the recent studies.
18:30		End of session Exhibition Reception in Exhibition Area The Exhibition Reception will take place on Tuesday in the exhibition area, where free drinks for all conference delegates and exhibition visitors will be offered. All exhibitors are welcome to also provide drinks and snacks for the attendees.