A Universal Method for Designing Multi-Digit Ternary to Binary Converter Using CNTFET

Abstract

Ternary logic can reduce the number of interconnections, chip area and power dissipation. In addition, one of the important features of carbon nanotube field effect transistors (CNTFETs) is the capability of adjusting threshold voltage. As a result, the design complexity of ternary circuits can be decreased. The structure of a mixed radix system which is based on multi-valued and binary logic is more appropriate compared to only multiple-valued logic (MVL). Therefore, ternary-to-binary and binary-to-ternary converters are the essential components for the ternary signaling on the bus and the binary logic processing circuits. It is also important for the creation of compatibility between the binary and ternary logic. This study is about a multi-digit binary-to-ternary converter by using CNTFET. At first, the algorithm used for the multi-digit conversion from ternary to binary logic is addressed in this paper. Then, the paper proposes a block diagram suitable for designing the multi-digit ternary-to-binary converter. Some new gates including One-Active Gate and Two-Active Gate, as well as two types of binary half-and full-adders, are designed for the purpose of implementing the proposed block diagram. This is done by adjusting the proper threshold voltage for CNTFETs. The proposed algorithm can also be applied to any desired number of bits. The proper operation and high efficiency of the proposed converter are confirmed by HSPICE simulation results and 32[Formula: see text]nm CNTFET technology from the Stanford University.