Latch and flip-flop design in QCA technology with minimum number of cells

• Published in: Computers & electrical engineering 2022-09, Vol.102, p.108186, Article 108186
• Main Authors: Gholami, Mohammad, Movahedi, Maryam, Amirzadeh, Zaman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Flip-flop; Latch; QCA; Quatum-dot cellular automata; Reset; Set; shift register
• ISSN: 0045-7906; 1879-0755
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compeleceng.2022.108186

Today, the implementation of computer systems and digital circuits is done using CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) technology, but problems such as high-power consumption and physical limitations of CMOS have led researchers to use the emerging technology of point cellular quantum automation (QCA). The most important features of this technology are very high density, low power consumption and high switching speed. In this paper, new structures for type D latch and flip-flops in quantum-dot cellular automat technology are presented. Initially, a majority gate-based D-latch was proposed with 19 cells, a cross-sectional area of 0.01 μm2, and a delay of 0.75 clock cycles. Then, using the proposed D-latch, the reset-based D-latch is also proposed, which has better properties than the previous structures and has only 19 cells, a cross-sectional area of 0.01 μm2 and a delay of 0.75 clock cycles. Also, using the proposed latch, a D-latch with a set and reset terminals is introduced, which has 21 cells, a delay of 0.75 clock cycles and an area of 0.01 μm2. In order to show that the ability of circuits in more complex designs, k properly, the proposed latches have been used to make, 3-bit shift register. The proposed methods are simulated using QCADesigner and QCAPro tools and compared with other designs in terms of cell number, area, latency, and power consumption.