Superconductor digital electronics

• Published in: Physica. C, Superconductivity Superconductivity, 2012-11, Vol.482, p.6-18
• Main Author: Likharev, Konstantin K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Constrictions; Cryotron; Digital electronics; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Former Soviet Union; Josephson junction; Physics; Proximity effects, weak links, tunneling phenomena, and josephson effects, adreev effect, sn and sns junctions; Reversible computing; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Single-flux quanta devices; Supercomputing; Superconducting devices; Superconductivity; Superconductors; Texts; Ultrafast computing
• ISSN: 0921-4534; 1873-2143
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physc.2012.05.016

► History of superconductor digital electronics. ► Field development on the former Soviet Union. ► From cryotrons to latching logic to RSFQ technology. ► Recent progress and future prospects. The objective of these notes is to offer a brief review of the history of superconductor digital electronics, and discuss prospects of its future development. Due to length restrictions, many important technical contributions could not be mentioned at all – with sincere apologies to their authors. Though an attempt has been made to give an unbiased review of the most important work all over the world, a special emphasis on the efforts in the former Soviet Union, which had not been discussed much in literature, and in which the author of this text took an active part, seemed excusable. Another important qualification is that the author phased out his own research in the field about 10years ago, so that the last parts of the notes, devoted to present-time and future work, should be viewed as not much more than remarks by an (interested) outsider.