IDPAL – A Partially-Adiabatic Energy-Efficient Logic Family: Theory and Applications to Secure Computing

Low-power circuits and issues associated with them have gained a significant amount of attention in recent years due to the boom in portable electronic devices. Historically, low-power operation relied heavily on technology scaling and reduced operating voltage, however this trend has been slowing down recently due to the increased power density on chips. This dissertation introduces a new very-low power partially-adiabatic logic family called Input-Decoupled Partially-Adiabatic Logic (IDPAL) with applications in low-power circuits. Experimental results show that IDPAL reduces energy usage by 79% compared to equivalent CMOS implementations and by 25% when compared to the best adiabatic implementation. Experiments ranging from a simple buffer/inverter up to a 32-bit multiplier are explored and result in consistent energy savings, showing that IDPAL could be a viable candidate for a low-power circuit implementation. This work also shows an application of IDPAL to secure low-power circuits against power analysis attacks. It is often assumed that encryption algorithms are perfectly secure against attacks, however, most times attacks using side channels on the hardware implementation of an encryption operation are not investigated. Power analysis attacks are a subset of side channel attacks and can be implemented by measuring the power used by a circuit during an encryption operation in order to obtain secret information from the circuit under attack. Most of the previously proposed solutions for power analysis attacks use a large amount of power and are unsuitable for a low-power application. The almost-equal energy consumption for any given input in an IDPAL circuit suggests that this logic family is a good candidate for securing low-power circuits again power analysis attacks. Experimental results ranging from small circuits to large multipliers are performed and the power-analysis attack resistance of IDPAL is investigated. Results show that IDPAL circuits are not only low-power but also the most secure against power analysis attacks when compared to other adiabatic low-power circuits. Finally, a hybrid adiabatic-CMOS microprocessor design is presented. The proposed microprocessor uses IDPAL for the implementation of circuits with high switching activity (e.g. ALU) and CMOS logic for other circuits (e.g. memory, controller). An adiabatic-CMOS interface for transforming adiabatic signals to square-wave signals is presented and issues associated with a hybrid implementation and their solutions are also discussed

CMOS array design automation techniques

A low cost, quick turnaround technique for generating custom metal oxide semiconductor arrays using the standard cell approach was developed, implemented, tested and validated. Basic cell design topology and guidelines are defined based on an extensive analysis that includes circuit, layout, process, array topology and required performance considerations particularly high circuit speed

Designing a Novel High Performance Four-to-Two Compressor Cell Based on CNTFET Technology for Low Voltages

Compressor cell is often placed in critical path of multiplier circuits to perform partial product summation. Therefore it plays a significant role in determining the entire performance of multiplier and digital system. Respecting to the necessity of low power design for portable electronic, designing a low power and high performance compressors seems to be a good solution to overcome of these problems for computations. In this paper a novel high performance four-to-two compressor cell is proposed using Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistors (CNTFETs) technology. The new cell is based on Majority Function, NOR, and NAND gates. The main advantage of proposed design in comparison with former cells is the ease of obtaining CARRY output by means of Majority function. Simulations have been done with 32nm technology node using Synopsys HSPICE software. Simulation results confirm the priority of the proposed cell compared to other state-of-the-art four-to-two compressor cells

Design and simulation of reversible molecular mechanical logic gates and circuits

In this thesis, I outline a framework for constructing molecular mechanical circuits from logic gates and components that I have designed and optimised, and describe the results of simulations conducted to determine the thermodynamic properties of these circuits with a coarse-grained rigid body simulator. The molecular mechanical logic gates I have designed can be used to construct logically reversible circuits, which have the potential to be far more efficient than their irreversible counterparts due to the fact that they can easily be operated in a thermodynamically reversible manner. Using the rigid body simulator, I first demonstrate Landauer's principle, a fundamental principle of information theory which relates the change in information entropy of a given process to the work required to complete it, thus showing that my rigid body simulator is thermodynamically self-consistent. I then simulate a novel molecular mechanical NAND gate design and use it to construct complex logically and thermodynamically reversible combinatorial circuits, including a half-adder. Subsequently, I investigate the use of pipelining to increase the throughput of a circuit at the cost of potential logical irreversibility, and show that it is possible to perform pipelining efficiently under certain conditions. Finally, I use a genetic algorithm to optimise various circuit components, demonstrating a novel technique to reduce the number of costly simulations that must be run in order to calculate the fitness function

Binary Addition in Resistance Switching Memory Array by Sensing Majority

The flow of data between processing and memory units in contemporary computing systems is their main performance and energy-efficiency bottleneck, often referred to as the ‘von Neumann bottleneck’ or ‘memory wall’. Emerging resistance switching memories (memristors) show promising signs to overcome the ‘memory wall’ by enabling computation in the memory array. Majority logic is a type of Boolean logic, and in many nanotechnologies, it has been found to be an efficient logic primitive. In this paper, a technique is proposed to implement a majority gate in a memory array. The majority gate is realised in an energy-efficient manner as a memory READ operation. The proposed logic family disintegrates arithmetic operations to majority and NOT operations which are implemented as memory READ and WRITE operations. A 1-bit full adder can be implemented in 6 steps (memory cycles) in a 1T–1R array, which is faster than IMPLY , NAND , NOR and other similar logic primitives

Electronics implementation of the solar neutron experiment

The electronic equipment design and function are discussed for the solar neutron counter experiment. Circuit diagrams are included

An approach to component generation and technology adaptation

Component generation is the task of mapping the abstract functional specification of register-transfer (RT) components, such as decoders and multiplexers, adders and comparators, and multipliers and arithmetic logic units, into configurations of connected physical layout cells. Cells are drawn from a given ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) library.In this dissertation, I describe a symbolic pattern-matching approach to component generation and, relative to this, an approach to automating technology adaptation. I define the component decomposition algorithm and technology compilation algorithm that formalize these two approaches and describe implementations of each, in the DTAS component generation system and the LOLA technology adaptation system, respectively. I present empirical results to validate the utility of my approach to component generation, and I present a demonstration to validate my approach to technology adaptation.My approach to component generation has two significant benefits. First, it enables the use of complex functional library cells, such as adders and CLAs, in the generation of designs for functional units. Second, it effectively searches the design space for designs that make desirable tradeoffs between design constraints, such as area and delay. My approach to technology adaptation is significant because it bootstraps the DTAS component generation system into new ASIC cell libraries, as well as cell libraries as they undergo change. In this way, the technology compilation algorithm automates the task of maintaining technology independence.To validate my approach to component generation, I present the results of four sets of experiments using the DTAS component generation system. The first set examines the effectiveness of search control in DTAS; the second examines the capability to find desirable design alternatives; the third compares designs generated by DTAS with those of MISII; and the fourth shows how the use of complex library cells improves design quality. To validate my approach to automating technology adaptation, I demonstrate the application of the LOLA technology adaptation system to a cell library as it undergoes four phases of evolution

Implementation of arithmetic primitives using truly deep submicron technology (TDST)

The invention of the transistor in 1947 at Bell Laboratories revolutionised the electronics industry and created a powerful platform for emergence of new industries. The quest to increase the number of devices per chip over the last four decades has resulted in rapid transition from Small-Scale-Integration (SSI) and Large-Scale-lntegration (LSI), through to the Very-Large-Scale-Integration (VLSI) technologies, incorporating approximately 10 to 100 million devices per chip. The next phase in this evolution is the Ultra-Large-Scale-Integration (ULSI) aiming to realise new application domains currently not accessible to CMOS technology. Although technology is continuously evolving to produce smaller systems with minimised power dissipation, the IC industry is facing major challenges due to constraints on power density (W/cm2) and high dynamic (operating) and static (standby) power dissipation. Mobile multimedia communication and optical based technologies have rapidly become a significant area of research and development challenging a variety of technological fronts. The future emergence or 4G (4th Generation) wireless communications networks is further driving this development, requiring increasing levels of media rich content. The processing requirements for capture, conversion, compression, decompression, enhancement and display of higher quality multimedia, place heavy demands on current ULSI systems. This is also apparent for mobile applications and intelligent optical networks where silicon chip area and power dissipation become primary considerations. In addition to the requirements for very low power, compact size and real-time processing, the rapidly evolving nature of telecommunication networks means that flexible soft programmable systems capable of adaptation to support a number of different standards and/or roles become highly desirable. In order to fully realise the capabilities promised by the 4G and supporting intelligent networks, new enabling technologies arc needed to facilitate the next generation of personal communications devices. Most of the current solutions to meet these challenges are based on various implementations of conventional architectures. For decades, silicon has been the main platform of computing, however it is slow, bulky, runs too hot, and is too expensive. Thus, new approaches to architectures, driving multimedia and future telecommunications systems, are needed in order to extend the life cycle of silicon technology. The emergence of Truly Deep Submicron Technology (TDST) and related 3-D interconnection technologies have provided potential alternatives from conventional architectures to 3-D system solutions, through integration of IDST, Vertical Software Mapping and Intelligent Interconnect Technology (IIT). The concept of Soft-Chip Technology (SCT) entails integration of Soft• Processing Circuits with Soft-Configurable Circuits . This concept can effectively manipulate hardware primitives through vertical integration of control and data. Thus the notion of 3-D Soft-Chip emerges as a new design algorithm for content-rich multimedia, telecommunication and intelligent networking system applications. 3•D architectures (design algorithms used suitable for 3-D soft-chip technology), are driven by three factors. The first is development of new device technology (TDST) that can support new architectures with complexities of 100M to 1000M devices. The second is development of advanced wafer bonding techniques such as Indium bump and the more futuristic optical interconnects for 3-D soft-chip mapping. The third is related to improving the performance of silicon CMOS systems as devices continue to scale down in dimensions. One of the fundamental building blocks of any computer system is the arithmetic component. Optimum performance of the system is determined by the efficiency of each individual component, as well as the network as a whole entity. Development of configurable arithmetic primitives is the fundamental focus in 3-D architecture design where functionality can be implemented through soft configurable hardware elements. Therefore the ability to improve the performance capability of a system is of crucial importance for a successful design. Important factors that predict the efficiency of such arithmetic components are: • The propagation delay of the circuit, caused by the gate, diffusion and wire capacitances within !he circuit, minimised through transistor sizing. and • Power dissipation, which is generally based on node transition activity. [2] Although optimum performance of 3-D soft-chip systems is primarily established by the choice of basic primitives such as adders and multipliers, the interconnecting network also has significant degree of influence on !he efficiency of the system. 3-D superposition of devices can decrease interconnect delays by up to 60% compared to a similar planar architecture. This research is based on development and implementation of configurable arithmetic primitives, suitable to the 3-D architecture, and has these foci: • To develop a variety of arithmetic components such as adders and multipliers with particular emphasis on minimum area and compatible with 3-D soft-chip design paradigm. • To explore implementation of configurable distributed primitives for arithmetic processing. This entails optimisation of basic primitives, and using them as part of array processing. In this research the detailed designs of configurable arithmetic primitives are implemented using TDST O.l3µm (130nm) technology, utilising CAD software such as Mentor Graphics and Cadence in Custom design mode, carrying through design, simulation and verification steps