Electron-Electron Interaction in Linear Arrays of Small Tunnel Junctions

We have calculated the spatial distribution of the electrostatic potential created by an unbalanced charge $q$ in one of the conducting electrodes of a long, uniform, linear array of small tunnel junctions. The distribution describes, in particular, the shape of a topological single-electron soliton in such an array. An analytical solution obtained for a circular cross section model is compared with results of geometrical modeling of a more realistic structure with square cross section. These solutions are very close to one another, and can be reasonably approximated by a simple phenomenological expression. In contrast to the previously accepted exponential approximation, the new result describes the crossover between the linear change of the potential near the center of the soliton to the unscreened Coulomb potential far from the center, with an unexpected ``hump'' near the crossover point.Comment: 8 pages, RevTeX 3.0, 4 PostScript figures. To appear in Applied Physics Letters, circa 12 Nov 199

CMOL: Second Life for Silicon?

This report is a brief review of the recent work on architectures for the prospective hybrid CMOS/nanowire/ nanodevice ("CMOL") circuits including digital memories, reconfigurable Boolean-logic circuits, and mixed-signal neuromorphic networks. The basic idea of CMOL circuits is to combine the advantages of CMOS technology (including its flexibility and high fabrication yield) with the extremely high potential density of molecular-scale two-terminal nanodevices. Relatively large critical dimensions of CMOS components and the "bottom-up" approach to nanodevice fabrication may keep CMOL fabrication costs at affordable level. At the same time, the density of active devices in CMOL circuits may be as high as 1012 cm2 and that they may provide an unparalleled information processing performance, up to 1020 operations per cm2 per second, at manageable power consumption.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

Quantum phase slip interference device based on superconducting nanowire

We propose a transistor-like circuit including two serially connected segments of a narrow superconducting nanowire joint by a wider segment with a capacitively coupled gate in between. This circuit is made of amorphous NbSi film and embedded in a network of on-chip Cr microresistors ensuring a sufficiently high external electromagnetic impedance. Assuming a virtual regime of quantum phase slips (QPS)in two narrow segments of the wire, leading to quantum interference of voltages on these segments, this circuit is dual to the dc SQUID. Our samples demonstrated appreciable Coulomb blockade voltage (analog of critical current of the SQUIDs) and periodic modulation of this blockade by an electrostatic gate (analog of flux modulation in the SQUIDs). The model of this QPS transistor is discussed.Comment: 5 pages including 3 figures; in v2 the title was updated, typos were fixed and 4 references adde

Supercurrent fluctuations in short filaments

We evaluate the average and the standard deviation of the supercurrent in superconducting nanobridges, as functions of the temperature and the phase difference, in an equilibrium situation. We also evaluate the autocorrelation of the supercurrent as a function of the elapsed time. The behavior of supercurrent fluctuations is qualitatively different from from that of the normal current: they depend on the phase difference, have a different temperature dependence, and for appropriate range their standard deviation is independent of the probing time. We considered two radically different filaments and obtained very similar results for both. Fluctuations of the supercurrent can in principle be measured

Statistics of voltage fluctuations in resistively shunted Josephson junctions

The intrinsic nonlinearity of Josephson junctions converts Gaussian current noise in the input into non-Gaussian voltage noise in the output. For a resistively shunted Josephson junction with white input noise we determine numerically exactly the properties of the few lowest cumulants of the voltage fluctuations, and we derive analytical expressions for these cumulants in several important limits. The statistics of the voltage fluctuations is found to be Gaussian at bias currents well above the Josephson critical current, but Poissonian at currents below the critical value. In the transition region close to the critical current the higher-order cumulants oscillate and the voltage noise is strongly non-Gaussian. For coloured input noise we determine the third cumulant of the voltage.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Quasi-adiabatic Switching for Metal-Island Quantum-dot Cellular Automata

Recent experiments have demonstrated a working cell suitable for implementing the Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA) paradigm. These experiments have been performed using metal island clusters. The most promising approach to QCA operation involves quasi-adiabatically switching the cells. This has been analyzed extensively in gated semiconductor cells. Here we present a metal island cell structure that makes quasi-adiabatic switching possible. We show how this permits quasi-adiabatic clocking, and enables a pipelined architecture.Comment: 40 preprint-style double-spaced pages including 16 figure

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

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.Comment: 9 pages, RevTex, 3 figure

Capacity, Fidelity, and Noise Tolerance of Associative Spatial-Temporal Memories Based on Memristive Neuromorphic Network

We have calculated the key characteristics of associative (content-addressable) spatial-temporal memories based on neuromorphic networks with restricted connectivity - "CrossNets". Such networks may be naturally implemented in nanoelectronic hardware using hybrid CMOS/memristor circuits, which may feature extremely high energy efficiency, approaching that of biological cortical circuits, at much higher operation speed. Our numerical simulations, in some cases confirmed by analytical calculations, have shown that the characteristics depend substantially on the method of information recording into the memory. Of the four methods we have explored, two look especially promising - one based on the quadratic programming, and the other one being a specific discrete version of the gradient descent. The latter method provides a slightly lower memory capacity (at the same fidelity) then the former one, but it allows local recording, which may be more readily implemented in nanoelectronic hardware. Most importantly, at the synchronous retrieval, both methods provide a capacity higher than that of the well-known Ternary Content-Addressable Memories with the same number of nonvolatile memory cells (e.g., memristors), though the input noise immunity of the CrossNet memories is somewhat lower

Shot Noise of Single-Electron Tunneling in 1D Arrays

We have used numerical modeling and a semi-analytical calculation method to find the low frequency value S_{I}(0) of the spectral density of fluctuations of current through 1D arrays of small tunnel junctions, using the ``orthodox theory'' of single-electron tunneling. In all three array types studied, at low temperature (kT << eV), increasing current induces a crossover from the Schottky value S_{I}(0)=2e to the ``reduced Schottky value'' S_{I}(0)=2e/N (where N is the array length) at some crossover current I_{c}. In uniform arrays over a ground plane, I_{c} is proportional to exp(-\lambda N), where 1/\lambda is the single-electron soliton length. In arrays without a ground plane, I_{c} decreases slowly with both N and \lambda. Finally, we have calculated the statistics of I_{c} for ensembles of arrays with random background charges. The standard deviation of I_{c} from the ensemble average is quite large, typically between 0.5 and 0.7 of , while the dependence of on N or \lambda is so weak that it is hidden within the random fluctuations of the crossover current.Comment: RevTex. 21 pages of text, 10 postscript figure