Efficient Mapping of Boolean Functions to Memristor Crossbar Using MAGIC NOR Gates

Abstract

Memristor is considered as a promising circuit element which can be used in many applications. Various synthesis methods for Boolean functions have been explored in the literature using memristor-based design styles. Memristor crossbar is considered as one of the most preferred structures for implementing logic functions as well as memory. In this paper, a general synthesis flow has been proposed using the MAGIC logic design style to map multioutput Boolean functions to memristor crossbars. The functions are realized as a netlist of NOR and NOT gates. Two alternate methods of evaluating the gates are used, serial and parallel, which give a tradeoff between the number of cycles and the size of the crossbar. A strategy for scheduling the gates to time steps has also been proposed to reduce the hardware overhead. The switching delays and energy requirements are estimated using SPICE simulation. Synthesis results are reported for ISCAS’85 benchmark functions that show an average reduction of 68.8% in the number of cycles, 52.8% in energy consumption, and 96.4% in the number of memristors required as compared to a very recently published work.