Design of Configurable Sequential Circuits in Quantum-dot Cellular Automata

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel configurable flip-flop design in quantum-dot cellular automata that can switch between D, T, and JK modes and supports multiple clock edge configurations, enhancing versatility and efficiency in nano-scale digital circuits.

Contribution

It presents the first configurable flip-flop in QCA capable of multiple logic functions and clock edge configurations, verified through simulation.

Findings

Successful design of a multi-purpose QCA flip-flop.

Implementation of an edge configurable flip-flop with nine operational modes.

Verification of designs using QCADesigner simulator.

Abstract

Quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) is a likely candidate for future low power nano-scale electronic devices. Sequential circuits in QCA attract more attention due to its numerous application in digital industry. On the other hand, configurable devices provide low device cost and efficient utilization of device area. Since the fundamental building block of any sequential logic circuit is flip flop, hence constructing configurable, multi-purpose QCA flip-flops are one of the prime importance of current research. This work proposes a design of configurable flip-flop (CFF) which is the first of its kind in QCA domain. The proposed flip-flop can be configured to D, T and JK flip-flop by configuring its control inputs. In addition, to make more efficient configurable flip-flop, a clock pulse generator (CPG) is designed which can trigger all types of edges (falling, rising and dual) of a clock. The same CFF design is used to realize an edge configurable (dual/rising/falling) flip- flop with the help of CPG. The biggest advantage of using edge configurable (dual/rising/falling) flip-flop is that it can be used in 9 different ways using the same single circuit. All the proposed designs are verified using QCADesigner simulator.