Eur. Phys. J. B (2018) 91: 113
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2018-80619-6

Regular Article

Fundamental energy limits of SET-based Brownian NAND and half-adder circuits^★

Preliminary findings from a physical-information-theoretic methodology

Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Boğaziçi University, 34342 İstanbul, Turkey

^a e-mail: ilke.ercan@boun.edu.tr

Received: 30 October 2017
Received in final form: 19 February 2018
Published online: 13 June 2018

Abstract

The saturation in the efficiency and performance scaling of conventional electronic technologies brings about the development of novel computational paradigms. Brownian circuits are among the promising alternatives that can exploit fluctuations to increase the efficiency of information processing in nanocomputing. A Brownian cellular automaton, where signals propagate randomly and are driven by local transition rules, can be made computationally universal by embedding arbitrary asynchronous circuits on it. One of the potential realizations of such circuits is via single electron tunneling (SET) devices since SET technology enable simulation of noise and fluctuations in a fashion similar to Brownian search. In this paper, we perform a physical-information-theoretic analysis on the efficiency limitations in a Brownian NAND and half-adder circuits implemented using SET technology. The method we employed here establishes a solid ground that enables studying computational and physical features of this emerging technology on an equal footing, and yield fundamental lower bounds that provide valuable insights into how far its efficiency can be improved in principle. In order to provide a basis for comparison, we also analyze a NAND gate and half-adder circuit implemented in complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology to show how the fundamental bound of the Brownian circuit compares against a conventional paradigm.