Design of efficient quantum Dot cellular automata (QCA) multiply accumulate (MAC) unit with power dissipation analysis

Abstract

Quantum dot cellular automata (QCA) is a hopeful technology in the field of nanotechnology that seems to suite well with signal-processing needs. It is concerned with great interest because of its benefits such as ultra-low power consumption, small size and can operate at one Terahertz. The multiply accumulator (MAC) unit is considered as one of the essential operations in digital signal processing (DSP). In the real-time DSP systems, several applications like speech processing, video coding, and digital filtering etc. require MAC operations. However, the power dissipation and area are the most significant aspects in these systems. Here, the authors design low power MAC unit based on QCA technology. QCADesigner version 2.0.3 is used to validate the accuracy of the proposed circuit. The reliability of this unit is taken at different temperatures. The power dissipation is estimated using QCAPro tool. The total power consumed by this unit is 2.183 μW. The proposed circuit has 90% improvement in terms of power over complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) circuits. Since the works in the field of QCA logic signal processing has started to progress, the suggested contribution will give rise to a new thread of research in the field of real-time signal and image treatment.