Single-Electron Devices and Circuits Utilizing Stochastic Operation for Intelligent Information Processing

Many single-electron devices and circuits that realize CMOS-like digital logic were proposed so far (Takahashi, Ono, Fujiwara, & Inokawa, 2002). However, the single-electron circuit technology should aim at developing computing systems that perform information processing by using singleelectron phenomena (Morie, & Amemiya, 2006). Because their operation principles are completely different from that of conventional CMOS devices, we have developed a scenario for achieving largescale integrated systems of single-electron devices as summarized in Figure 1. Single-electron devices should be used for massively parallel processing with a huge number of devices because of their large packing density and ultra-low power dissipation. The processing speed is improved by parallel operation. Few logic stages, a small fanout, regularity and repeatability in the circuit architecture overcome the interconnection complexity and lowers the background-charge effects. Parallel operation and such circuit architecture may make deep logic processing more difficult. Therefore, the use of ultra-small CMOS devices is essential. Singleelectron devices should be used for simple funcABSTRACT