Muller C-Element for NEMS

Abstract

Nano-electromechanical switches (NEMS) are a promising chip technology for harsh environments. However, their use with conventional synchronous designs may face hurdles, as wear-out limits their number of switching cycles. In this paper we propose a novel implementation of a Muller C-Element for NEMS devices and present two case studies showing that Quasi Delay Insensitive (QDI) design can significantly decrease the number of switching cycles and thus extend the lifetime of the circuit, potentially even without an increase of the device count. Our results indicate that the benefits of QDI become more pronounced for circuits that have a high proportion of flip-flops, and in cases where slow input causes idle clock cycles. Overall, our approach of using a customized Muller C-Element in a QDI design style shows clear benefits for the considered NEMS technology.