Digital quantizer based on single electron box for multi-valued logic circuits

A new digital quantizer structure is proposed based on single electron box (SEB). The structure exploits SEB which constitutes the simplest single electron device with one capacitor and one tunnel junction. Specifically, the quantizer is composed of two SEB's and one differential amplifier. Since the order of tunnel junction and capacitor determines the output characteristics in the single electron box, the quantized signal is achieved by adjusting the value of capacitance. The usefulness of digital quantizer is demonstrated by implementing the 4-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The ADC consists of the proposed quantizer block, capacitive divider and universal literal gate. The result shows almost no delay and good performance. The ADC with proposed digital quantizer docs not require latching blocks, rendering thereby the entire circuit much simpler. All the simulations have been performed with Monte-Carlo based simulator called SIMON.