DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF A CURRENT-MODE MULTIPLE-VALUED PLA BASED ON A RESONANT-TUNNELING TRANSISTOR MODEL

The investigation of the device functions required from the systems po int of view is important to the development of the next generation of actual devices. In this paper, a resonant tunnelling transistor (RTT) model is defined. The current-voltage characteristic of the model can have multiple peaks, and the widths of each peak and valley can be set to any value. A multiple-valued universal literal (MVUL) circuit usin g the RTT model is presented as a basic building block in a multiple-v alued programmable logic array (MVPLA). An MVPLA structure based on MV UL, AND, MIN, and linear sum operators is proposed for the implementat ion of multiple-valued systems. Since the MVUL circuit is designed usi ng only one transistor, and the other basic building blocks are implem ented by simple current-mode circuits, the proposed MVPLA becomes very compact. The layouts and SPICE simulations show that the proposed MVP LA is superior to other types of PLA in terms of size, delay and dynam ic power dissipation if the RTT model is realised by an actual device.