COMPACT CURRENT-MODE LOSER-TAKE-ALL CIRCUIT

A CMOS circuit is presented that takes an array of analogue input curr ents and generates an army of binary output voltages in which the outp ut corresponding to the minimum input current is high and all other ou tputs are low. This loser-take-all circuit also encodes the minimum cu rrent as a voltage that is distributed to all elements through a globa l wire. Because transistors operate in the subthreshold regime, a sing le compact cell implemented with as few as two transistors per cell di ssipates power in the microwatt range. A three-cell loser-take-all cir cuit was fabricated using a MOSIS 2 mu m p-well process, and experimen tal data are presented.