Clocking Nanocircuits for Nanocomputers and Other Nanoelectronic Systems

Prospective performance bounds are determined by simulation for a class of all-nanoelectronic clocking circuits. Such nanocircuits could be utilized as on-chip master clocks for stand-alone nanosystems, as local clocks within nanoelectronic computers, or as local oscillators in mixed-signal nanoelectronic applications. Designs and simulation results are presented for these nanocircuits, which are intended to be manufacturable using presently available nanodevices and nanofabrication techniques. The results presented here indicate that such clocking nanocircuits, if built using presently available devices, could achieve operating frequencies up to approximately 1 GHz for analog applications and 150 MHz for digital nanoelectronic systems.