Demonstration of a Single-Flux-Quantum Microprocessor Operating With Josephson-CMOS Hybrid Memory

Abstract

We have been developing Josephson-CMOS hybrid memory to realize large-scale single-flux-quantum (SFQ) digital systems. In this article, we present the first demonstration of a Josephson-cryo complementary-metal-oxide-semicoductor (CMOS) memory hybrid system composed of an SFQ microprocessor and cryo-CMOS memory. We designed a single-instruction SFQ microprocessor whose data memory is implemented using Josephson-CMOS hybrid memory with a 16 × 4-b accessible address space. The Josephson and CMOS circuits were fabricated using the AIST Nb standard process and the Rohm 180-nm process, respectively. Low-frequency tests confirmed the correct operation of the single instruction SUBNEG (subtract and branch if negative), which verifies the read and write operations of data between the SFQ microprocessor and the hybrid memory. We also demonstrate the operation of an integer sorting program, which is composed of 16 SUBNEG instructions.