Pulse Interfaces and Current Management Techniques for Serially Biased RSFQ Circuits

Abstract

As digital superconductor circuits based on Rapid Single Flux Quantum (RSFQ) logic scale up in complexity, so does the total current required to provide dc bias. Serial biasing (SB) is a promising solution that can be used to reduce the current by placing identical digital blocks on islands with isolated grounds and bias them sequentially. There are typically two implementations that are essential for the SB approach: the design of a driver-receiver pair (DRP) for inter-island pulse transport and the current management technique to handle the bias current flowing into and out of an island. While a DRP with good fidelity is essential for any serially biased circuit, the current management becomes critical for designs with relatively large bias current. In this paper, we address the latter. First, we propose a grapevine biasing scheme for serial bias current management. Second, we implement the technique using two exemplar circuits: the parallel counter and the digital decimation filter. We report the low and high speed test results up to 50 GHz for both circuits fabricated at MIT-LL in the SFQ5ee 10 kA/2 Ω fab node.