Analytic Approach to the Operation of RTD Ternary Inverters Based on MML

Abstract

Resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs) are very fast non linear circuit elements which have been integrated with transistors to create novel quantum devices and circuits. They are today considered the most mature type of quantum-effect devices, already operating at room temperature, and being promising candidates for future nanoscale integration. The incorporation of tunnel diodes into transistor technologies has demonstrated improved circuit performance: higher circuit speed, reduced component count, and/or lowered power consumption (Mazumder et al., 1998), (Broekaert et al., 1998; Sano et al., 2001; Kawano et al., 2003). Thus, RTD based circuits has been receiving a great amount of interest in the last years. Most of the reported working circuits have been fabricated in III/V materials while Si-based tunnelling diodes compatible to standard CMOS fabs are currently an area of active research (Sudirgo et al., 2004). In fact, it has been claimed that augmenting CMOS with RTDs could be the way to extend the lifetime of CMOS and fully exploiting its huge economical investments (Sudirgo et al., 2004). Recent advances in the development of those Si-based RTDs have raised a renewed interest on circuit design using RTDs and transistors.