Single-Electron Parametron: Reversible Computation in a Discrete State System

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the energy efficiency of a single-electron device capable of reversible computation, showing it can operate with very low energy dissipation under certain conditions, although the energy-time product remains large.

Contribution

It demonstrates that a single-electron parametron can perform reversible digital operations with minimal energy loss, expanding understanding of energy-efficient computation in quantum-scale systems.

Findings

Energy dissipation per bit can be much less than k_BT during reversible operation.

The energy-time product exceeds Planck's constant in the orthodox tunneling model.

Reversible operation is feasible at moderate switching speeds.

Abstract

We have analyzed energy dissipation in a digital device (``Single-Electron Parametron'') in which discrete degrees of freedom are used for presenting digital information. If the switching speed is not too high, the device may operate reversibly (adiabatically), and the energy dissipation ${\cal E}$ per bit may be much less than the thermal energy $k_BT$. The energy-time product ${\cal E}\tau $ is, however, much larger than Planck's constant $\hbar $, at least in the standard ``orthodox'' model of single-electron tunneling, which was used in our calculations.