AN EXTENDED GREEN-SASAO HIERARCHY OF CANONICAL TERNARY GALOIS FORMS AND UNIVERSAL LOGIC MODULES

A new extended Green-Sasao hierarchy of families and forms with a new sub-family for many-valued Reed-Muller logic is introduced. Recently, two families of binary canonical Reed-Muller forms, called Inclusive Forms (IFs) and Generalized Inclusive Forms (GIFs) have been proposed, where the second family was the first to include all minimum Exclusive Sum-Of-Products (ESOPs). In this paper, we propose, analogously to the binary case, two general families of canonical ternary Reed-Muller forms, called Ternary Inclusive Forms (TIFs) and their generalization of Ternary Generalized Inclusive Forms (TGIFs), where the second family includes minimum Galois Field Sum-Of-Products (GFSOPs) over ternary Galois field GF(3). One of the basic motivations in this work is the application of these TIFs and TGIFs to find the minimum GFSOP for many-valued input-output functions within logic synthesis, where a GFSOP minimizer based on IF polarity can be used to minimize the many-valued GFSOP expression for any given function. The realization of the presented S/D trees using Universal Logic Modules (ULMs) is also introduced, whereULMs are complete systems that can implement all possible logic functions utilizing the corresponding S/D expansions of many-valuedShannon and Davio spectral transforms.   

Automated synthesis and optimization of multilevel logic circuits.

With the increased complexity of Very Large Scaled Integrated (VLSI) circuits, multilevellogic synthesis plays an even more important role due to its flexibility and compactness.The history of symbolic logic and some typical techniques for multilevel logic synthesisare reviewed. These methods include algorithmic approach; Rule-Based approach; BinaryDecision Diagram (BDD) approach; Field Programmable Gate Array(FPGA) approachand several perturbation applications.One new kind of don't cares (DCs), called functional DCs has been proposed for multilevellogic synthesis. The conventional two-level cubes are generalized to multilevel cubes.Then functional DCs are generated based on the properties of containment. The conceptof containment is more general than unateness which leads to the generation of newDCs. A separate C program has been developed to utilize the functional DCs generatedas a Boolean function is decomposed for both single output and multiple output functions.The program can produce better results than script.rugged of SIS, developed by UC Berkeley,both in area and speed in less CPU time for a number of testcases from MCNC andIWLS'93 benchmarks.In certain applications ANDjXOR (Reed-Muller) logic has shown some attractive advantagesover the standard Boolean logic based on AND JOR operations. A bidirectionalconversion algorithm between these two paradigms is presented based on the concept of polarityfor sum-of-products (SOP) Boolean functions, multiple segment and multiple pointerfacilities. Experimental results show that the algorithm is much faster than the previouslypublished programs for any fixed polarity. Based on this algorithm, a new technique calledredundancy-removal is applied to generalize the idea to very large multiple output Booleanfunctions. Results for benchmarks with up to 199 inputs and 99 outputs are presented.Applying the preceding conversion program, any Boolean functions can be expressedby fixed polarity Reed-Muller forms. There are 2n polarities for an n-variable function andthe number of product terms depends on these polarities. The problem of exact polarityminimization is computationally extensive and current programs are only suitable whenn :::; 15. Based on the comparison of the concepts of polarity in the standard Boolean logicand Reed-Muller logic, a fast algorithm is developed and implemented in C language whichcan find the best polarity for multiple output functions. Benchmark examples of up to 25inputs and 29 outputs run on a personal computer are given.After the best polarity for a Boolean function is calculated, this function can be furthersimplified using mixed polarity methods by combining the adjacent product terms. Hence,an efficient program is developed based on decomposition strategy to implement mixedpolarity minimization for both single output and very large multiple output Boolean functions.Experimental results show that the numbers of product terms are much less thanthe results produced by ESPRESSO for some categories of functions

New Data Structures and Algorithms for Logic Synthesis and Verification

The strong interaction between Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools and Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology contributed substantially to the advancement of modern digital electronics. The continuous downscaling of CMOS Field Effect Transistor (FET) dimensions enabled the semiconductor industry to fabricate digital systems with higher circuit density at reduced costs. To keep pace with technology, EDA tools are challenged to handle both digital designs with growing functionality and device models of increasing complexity. Nevertheless, whereas the downscaling of CMOS technology is requiring more complex physical design models, the logic abstraction of a transistor as a switch has not changed even with the introduction of 3D FinFET technology. As a consequence, modern EDA tools are fine tuned for CMOS technology and the underlying design methodologies are based on CMOS logic primitives, i.e., negative unate logic functions. While it is clear that CMOS logic primitives will be the ultimate building blocks for digital systems in the next ten years, no evidence is provided that CMOS logic primitives are also the optimal basis for EDA software. In EDA, the efficiency of methods and tools is measured by different metrics such as (i) the result quality, for example the performance of a digital circuit, (ii) the runtime and (iii) the memory footprint on the host computer. With the aim to optimize these metrics, the accordance to a specific logic model is no longer important. Indeed, the key to the success of an EDA technique is the expressive power of the logic primitives handling and solving the problem, which determines the capability to reach better metrics. In this thesis, we investigate new logic primitives for electronic design automation tools. We improve the efficiency of logic representation, manipulation and optimization tasks by taking advantage of majority and biconditional logic primitives. We develop synthesis tools exploiting the majority and biconditional expressiveness. Our tools show strong results as compared to state-of-the-art academic and commercial synthesis tools. Indeed, we produce the best results for several public benchmarks. On top of the enhanced synthesis power, our methods are the natural and native logic abstraction for circuit design in emerging nanotechnologies, where majority and biconditional logic are the primitive gates for physical implementation. We accelerate formal methods by (i) studying properties of logic circuits and (ii) developing new frameworks for logic reasoning engines. We prove non-trivial dualities for the property checking problem in logic circuits. Our findings enable sensible speed-ups in solving circuit satisfiability. We develop an alternative Boolean satisfiability framework based on majority functions. We prove that the general problem is still intractable but we show practical restrictions that can be solved efficiently. Finally, we focus on reversible logic where we propose a new equivalence checking approach. We exploit the invertibility of computation and the functionality of reversible gates in the formulation of the problem. This enables one order of magnitude speed up, as compared to the state-of-the-art solution. We argue that new approaches to solve EDA problems are necessary, as we have reached a point of technology where keeping pace with design goals is tougher than ever

Logic synthesis and optimisation using Reed-Muller expansions

This thesis presents techniques and algorithms which may be employed to represent, generate and optimise particular categories of Exclusive-OR SumOf-Products (ESOP) forms. The work documented herein concentrates on two types of Reed-Muller (RM) expressions, namely, Fixed Polarity Reed-Muller (FPRM) expansions and KROnecker (KRO) expansions (a category of mixed polarity RM expansions). Initially, the theory of switching functions is comprehensively reviewed. This includes descriptions of various types of RM expansion and ESOP forms. The structure of Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) and Reed-Muller Universal Logic Module (RM-ULM) networks are also examined. Heuristic algorithms for deriving optimal (sub-optimal) FPRM expansions of Boolean functions are described. These algorithms are improved forms of an existing tabular technique [1]. Results are presented which illustrate the performance of these new minimisation methods when evaluated against selected existing techniques. An algorithm which may be employed to generate FPRM expansions from incompletely specified Boolean functions is also described. This technique introduces a means of determining the optimum allocation of the Boolean 'don't care' terms so as to derive equivalent minimal FPRM expansions. The tabular technique [1] is extended to allow the representation of KRO expansions. This new method may be employed to generate KRO expansions from either an initial incompletely specified Boolean function or a KRO expansion of different polarity. Additionally, it may be necessary to derive KRO expressions from Boolean Sum-Of-Products (SOP) forms where the product terms are not minterms. A technique is described which forms KRO expansions from disjoint SOP forms without first expanding the SOP expressions to minterm forms. Reed-Muller Binary Decision Diagrams (RMBDDs) are introduced as a graphical means of representing FPRM expansions. RMBDDs are analogous to the BDDs used to represent Boolean functions. Rules are detailed which allow the efficient representation of the initial FPRM expansions and an algorithm is presented which may be employed to determine an optimum (sub-optimum) variable ordering for the RMBDDs. The implementation of RMBDDs as RM-ULM networks is also examined. This thesis is concluded with a review of the algorithms and techniques developed during this research project. The value of these methods are discussed and suggestions are made as to how improved results could have been obtained. Additionally, areas for future work are proposed

Majority-Inverter Graph: A New Paradigm for Logic Optimization

In this paper, we propose a paradigm shift in representing and optimizing logic by using only majority (MAJ) and inversion (INV) functions as basic operations. We represent logic functions by Majority-Inverter Graph (MIG): a directed acyclic graph consisting of three-input majority nodes and regular/complemented edges. We optimize MIGs via a new Boolean algebra, based exclusively on majority and inversion operations, that we formally axiomatize in this work. As a complement to MIG algebraic optimization, we develop powerful Boolean methods exploiting global properties of MIGs, such as bit-error masking. MIG algebraic and Boolean methods together attain very high optimization quality. Considering the set of IWLS’05 benchmarks, our MIG optimizer (MIGhty) enables a 7% depth reduction in LUT-6 circuits mapped by ABC while also reducing size and power activity, with respect to similar AIG optimization. Focusing on arithmetic intensive benchmarks instead, MIGhty enables a 16% depth reduction in LUT-6 circuits mapped by ABC, again with respect to similar AIG optimization. Employed as front-end to a delay-critical 22-nm ASIC flow (logic synthesis + physical design) MIGhty reduces the average delay/area/power by 13%/4%/3%, respectively, over 31 academic and industrial benchmarks. We also demonstrate delay/area/power improve- ments by 10%/10%/5% for a commercial FPGA flow

Low Power Design Techniques for Digital Logic Circuits.

With the rapid increase in the density and the size of chips and systems, area and power dissipationbecome critical concern in Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuit design. Low powerdesign techniques are essential for today's VLSI industry. The history of symbolic logic and sometypical techniques for finite state machine (FSM) logic synthesis are reviewed.The state assignment is used to optimize area and power dissipation for FSMs. Two costfunctions, targeting area and power, are presented. The Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to searchfor a good state assignment to minimize the cost functions. The algorithm has been implementedin C. The program can produce better results than NOVA, which is integrated into SIS by DCBerkeley, and other publications both in area and power tested by MCNC benchmarks.Flip-flops are the core components of FSMs. The reduction of power dissipation from flip-flopscan save power for digital systems significantly. Three new kinds of flip-flops, called differentialCMOS single edge-triggered flip-flop with clock gating, double edge-triggered and multiple valuedflip-flops employing multiple valued clocks, are proposed. All circuits are simulated using PSpice.Most researchers have focused on developing low-power techniques in AND/OR or NAND& NOR based circuits. The low power techniques for AND /XOR based circuits are still intheir early stage of development. To implement a complex function involving many inputs,a form of decomposition into smaller subfunctions is required such that the subfunctions fitinto the primitive elements to be used in the implementation. Best polarity based XOR gatedecomposition technique has been developed, which targets low power using Huffman algorithm.Compared to the published results, the proposed method shows considerable improvement inpower dissipation. Further, Boolean functions can be expressed by Fixed Polarity Reed-Muller(FPRM) forms. Based on polarity transformation, an algorithm is developed and implementedin C language which can find the best polarity for power and area optimization. Benchmarkexamples of up to 21 inputs run on a personal computer are given

The 1991 3rd NASA Symposium on VLSI Design

Papers from the symposium are presented from the following sessions: (1) featured presentations 1; (2) very large scale integration (VLSI) circuit design; (3) VLSI architecture 1; (4) featured presentations 2; (5) neural networks; (6) VLSI architectures 2; (7) featured presentations 3; (8) verification 1; (9) analog design; (10) verification 2; (11) design innovations 1; (12) asynchronous design; and (13) design innovations 2