Characterization and analysis of single electron fault of QCA primitives

Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA) has emerged as a viable alternative for the traditional VLSI providing high device density and computing speed at nano-scale dimensions. Despite its advantages, QCA is quite susceptible to high error rate. Also, recent cell development technology has led to significant changes in the manufacturing techniques of QCA giving rise of new types of permanent defects. One such permanent faults, single electron fault (SEF) are likely to occur inside the cell. We have analysed these defects by using majority voter because of their driver/logic cell responsible for signal transition and propagation. The effect of the SEF are verified with the help of physical proof. The results show that majority voter transmits completely undesirable output in presence of SEF.