Interfacing Superconductor and Semiconductor Digital Electronics

TL;DR

This survey reviews interface circuits enabling the integration of superconductor and semiconductor digital electronics, focusing on design principles, trade-offs, and applications across various computing domains.

Contribution

It categorizes superconductor-semiconductor interface circuits based on principles and structures, providing a comprehensive overview of design considerations and trade-offs.

Findings

Superconducting output drivers can convert SFQ pulses to semiconductor-compatible voltages.

Trade-offs exist between data rate, power, and layout area in interface circuit design.

Design parameters significantly impact system performance and integration feasibility.

Abstract

Interface circuits are the key components that enable the hybrid integration of superconductor and semiconductor digital electronics. The design requirements of superconductor-semiconductor interface circuits vary depending on the application, such as high-performance classical computing, superconducting quantum computing, and digital signal processing. In this survey, various interface circuits are categorized based on the working principle and structure. The superconducting output drivers are explored, which are capable of converting and amplifying, e.g., single flux quantum (SFQ) voltage pulses, to voltage levels that semiconductor circuits can process. Several trade-offs between circuit- and system-level design parameters are examined. Accordingly, parameters such as the data rate, output voltage, power dissipation, layout area, thermal/heat load of cryogenic cables, and bit-error rate are considered.