Characterization of Adiabatic Quantum-Flux-Parametrons in the MIT LL SFQ5ee+ Process

TL;DR

This study investigates the scalability and flux trapping issues in dense AQFP circuits fabricated with the SFQ5ee+ process, demonstrating the importance of optimized moat design for reliable operation.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed analysis of flux trapping in dense AQFP shift registers with the SFQ5ee+ process, highlighting design considerations for scalability.

Findings

Dense AQFP circuits show increased flux trapping sensitivity.

Optimized moat design reduces flux trapping effects.

High operation margins are achievable with careful design.

Abstract

Adiabatic quantum-flux-parametron (AQFP) logic is a proven energy-efficient superconductor technology for various applications. To address the scalability challenges, we investigated AQFP shift registers with the AQFP footprint area reduced by 25% with respect to prior work and with more than 2x denser overall designs obtained by eliminating the previously used free space between the AQFPs. We also investigated AQFP cells with different designs of flux trapping moats in the superconducting ground plane as well as compact AQFP cells that took advantage of the smaller feature sizes available in the new fabrication process, SFQ5ee+, at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. This new process features nine planarized Nb layers with a 0.25 $\mu$m minimum linewidth. The fabricated circuits were tested in a liquid He probe and in a closed-cycle cryocooler using a controlled cooling rate through the superconducting critical temperature. Using multiple thermal cycles, we investigated flux trapping in the dense AQFP shift registers as well as in the registers using the old (sparse) AQFP designs at two levels of the residual magnetic field, about 0.53 $\mu$T and about 1.2 $\mu$T. The sparse designs demonstrated 95% to almost 100% probability of operation after the cooldown and very wide operation margins, although the flux trapping probability was increasing with circuit complexities. The margins were similarly wide in the newer dense designs, but flux trapping probability that rendered the registers nonoperational was significantly, by an order of magnitude, higher in the denser circuits and was also very sensitive to the moats' shape and location. Our findings indicate that AQFP circuits are amendable to increasing the scale of integration and further densification, but a careful moat design and optimization are required to reduce flux trapping effects in the dense AQFP circuits.