Low-power biasing networks for superconducting integrated circuits
10917096 ยท 2021-02-09
Assignee
Inventors
- Oleg A. Mukhanov (Putnam Valley, NY, US)
- Alexander F. Kirichenko (Pleasantville, NY, US)
- Dimitri Kirichenko (Yorktown Heights, NY, US)
Cpc classification
G06N10/00
PHYSICS
Y10T29/49124
GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
H10N69/00
ELECTRICITY
H03K3/38
ELECTRICITY
International classification
Abstract
A superconducting integrated circuit, comprising a plurality of superconducting circuit elements, each having a variation in operating voltage over time; a common power line; and a plurality of bias circuits, each connected to the common power line, and to a respective superconducting circuit element, wherein each respective bias circuit is superconducting during at least one time portion of the operation of a respective superconducting circuit element, and is configured to supply the variation in operating voltage over time to the respective superconducting circuit element.
Claims
1. A circuit, comprising: a current distribution network, configured to distribute parallel flows of current to a plurality of branches; a plurality of bias elements, comprising at least one respective bias element associated with each branch, each respective bias element comprising a Josephson junction and a series inductance, and each bias element being configured to provide a current bias and to critically damp the Josephson junction of the respective branch; the series inductance of each bias element having a respective inductance such that the respective bias current is inversely proportional to the respective inductance over a range of operation.
2. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of bias elements are configured to produce different operating voltages of different branches.
3. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of bias elements are configured to produce different bias currents of different branches.
4. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein at least one branch comprises the respective bias element having the Josephson junction connected to a ground.
5. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein at least one branch comprises a Josephson transmission line (JTL).
6. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein at least one branch comprises a superconducting flip flop.
7. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein at least one branch comprises a superconducting toggle flip-flop (TFF).
8. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein at least one branch comprises a single flux quantum logic element.
9. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein the series inductance is produced by a superconducting inductor.
10. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein at least one respective bias element functions as a current limiter.
11. The circuit according to claim 1, at least one branch comprises a Josephson junction substantially without any parallel shunt resistance.
12. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein a ratio of a respective maximum average DC voltage to bias current of a first respective bias element differs from a ratio of a respective maximum average DC voltage to bias current of a second respective bias element.
13. A circuit biasing method, comprising: distributing a current through a plurality of parallel circuit branches with a current distribution network; biasing each respective parallel circuit branch with a respective bias current from the current distribution network, dependent on a respective first Josephson junction and a series inductance effective for critically damping the respective first Josephson junction; operating each circuit branch with the respective bias current, for operating a second Josephson junction in the respective circuit branch substantially without a shunt damping impedance.
14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the respective bias current of a circuit branch is inversely proportional to a respective series inductance over a range of operation.
15. The method according to claim 14, wherein a respective circuit branch comprises a single flux quantum logic circuit, further comprising communicating an output of the single flux quantum logic circuit.
16. The method according to claim 13, wherein a first circuit branch has a different respective average operating voltage and average operating current than at least one second circuit branch.
17. The method according to claim 13, wherein the respective bias circuit for each respective circuit branch operates as a current limiter.
18. The method according to claim 13, wherein the series inductance of at least one circuit branch is achieved with a superconducting inductor.
19. The method according to claim 13, further comprising turning on and off at least one circuit branch such that it selectively operates when turned on.
20. A superconducting integrated circuit, comprising: a plurality of superconducting circuit elements each receiving an operating current in parallel; each superconducting circuit element comprising at least one first Josephson junction logic element; each superconducting circuit element having an associated bias element comprising at least one second Josephson junction, configured to: bias the at least one first Josephson junction below a critical current with critical damping, and dynamically bias the respective superconducting circuit element while having a dynamic bias state substantially isolated from a dynamic bias state for each of the other superconducting circuit elements.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
(16) The several preferred embodiments are hereby described in greater detail, with reference to the figures.
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(18) A set of parallel resistors Rb is used to bias the set of JTLs at a constant current less than the critical current I.sub.c of the junctions, so that there is no voltage or static power in the junctions. When an SFQ voltage pulse is introduced at one end of the JTL, it causes each junction in turn to exceed I.sub.c in a transient fashion, generating an SFQ pulse which propagates to the next junction.
(19) Each Josephson junction in
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L.sub.J=.sub.0/[2(I.sub.c.sup.2I.sup.2).sup.1/2].
(24) So if we ensure that the bias inductors L.sub.n are large compared to .sub.0/I.sub.c, then the initial current distribution should be dominated by the values of L.sub.n. This will also ensure that the bias inductors effectively screen the individual SFQ pulses from coupling between the branches of the bias network.
(25) As for the case shown in
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(27) Note that the junction J.sub.1 is not necessary, since it is in the branch with the maximum voltage V.sub.max, which will see its current decrease (very slightly) rather than increase. So in steady state, there should ideally be no voltage across J.sub.1, and a pure inductive bias could be used in this branch. On the other hand, there may be some advantages to including this junction. For example, if there are two or more branches corresponding to V.sub.max, then this may form a superconducting loop that could trap magnetic flux, leading to a large circulating current. Such trapped flux can cause problems in RSFQ circuits, by coupling stray magnetic flux to another part of the circuit. On the other hand, if there is a junction in the loop, this trapped flux would be more likely to escape. Furthermore, during transients such as power-up and power-down, junction J.sub.1 may be activated, so that its presence may enhance the stability of the system.
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(30) While a Josephson junction in series with the bias inductor is not strictly necessary in the eSFQ design in the right of
(31) Other RSFQ circuits which could be modified for compatibility with eSFQ biasing include data distribution lines. This would include reducing the use of asynchronous JTLs, splitters and confluence buffers, and instead using passive transmission lines with clocked transmitter and receiver circuits. In this way, it is likely that an entire RSFQ cell library could be adapted to eSFQ biasing. One alternative to the standard asynchronous JTL (
(32) Alternatively, one could use the ERSFQ approach, whereby such cell modifications are unnecessary. In this case, one simply replaces each conventional bias resistor with a series combination of an inductor and a Josephson junction with I.sub.c=I.sub.n. A further variant that combines aspects of both methods is shown in
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(34) The bias inductors in
(35) These preferred embodiments provide examples of the application of the design methods of this invention, and may be combined or modified to achieve the optimum combination of power reduction, bias stability, operating margin, and fabrication yield.
(36) The present invention has been described here by way of example only. Various modification and variations may be made to these exemplary embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which is limited only by the appended claims.
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