IP Library Granted Patent US 12,431,188
Granted Patent B2
US 12,431,188 · App. 18/265,593 · Granted Sep 30, 2025

Efficient Muller C-Element implementation for high bit-width asynchronous applications

Inventor: John Martin Emmert (Dayton, OH)
Assignee: University of Cincinnati
G11C11/4076G11C11/4091G11C11/4096
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,431,188
App. No.
18/265,593
Granted
Sep 30, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A system comprises an nMOS active resistor, nMOS transistors, a pMOS active resistor, and pMOS transistors, wherein a subset of the nMOS transistors a subset of the pMOS transistors are coupled to each other, respectively, according to a parallel OR configuration, a source terminal of the nMOS active resistor is coupled to respective drain terminals of the nMOS transistors, and a source terminal of the pMOS active resistor is coupled to respective drain terminals of the pMOS transistors. The transistor level delay based circuit further includes a write subcircuit component includes one of the nMOS transistors coupled to at least one of the pMOS transistors, wherein the write subcircuit is controlled by reverse logic signals, and a gate component includes an additional subset of the plurality of nMOS transistors coupled to an additional subset of the pMOS transistors, the gate component corresponding to a semistatic cross coupled inverter circuit.

Claims (41)

1. A system for null convention logic based applications having high input bit-widths, the system comprising:

a two-transistor level delay based circuit including an nMOS active resistor and a plurality of nMOS transistors and a pMOS active resistor and a plurality of pMOS transistors,

at least a subset of the plurality of nMOS transistors coupled according to a parallel OR configuration configured to generate a first reverse logic signal and at least a subset of the plurality of pMOS transistors are coupled according to the parallel OR configuration configured to generate a second reverse logic signal,

a source terminal of the nMOS active resistor coupled to respective drain terminals of the plurality of nMOS transistors,

a source terminal of the pMOS active resistor coupled to respective drain terminals of the plurality of pMOS transistors,

a gate terminal of the pMOS active resistor and a gate terminal of the nMOS active resistor shorted to connect to an inverted output, and

wherein the nMOS active resistor and the pMOS active resistor are coupled to each other in a parallel configuration;

a write sub-circuit component includes at least one of the plurality of nMOS transistors coupled to at least one of the plurality of pMOS transistors, wherein;

a gate terminal of the at least one of the plurality of nMOS transistors is configured to receive the first reverse logic signal,

a gate terminal of the at least one of the plurality of pMOS transistors is configured to receive the second reverse logic signal, and

the write sub-circuit component configured to generate an output; and

a gate component includes an additional subset of the plurality of nMOS transistors coupled to an additional subset of the plurality of pMOS transistors, the gate component corresponding to a semi-static cross-coupled inverter circuit, the gate component configured to receive the output and generate the inverted output.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the two-transistor level delay based circuit is a Mueller C-element based electromagnetic compatibility circuit.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the write sub-circuit is based on a modified t-gate.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the source terminal of the nMOS active resistor being coupled to the respective drain terminals of the plurality of nMOS transistors, and the source terminal of the pMOS active resistor being coupled to the respective drain terminals of the plurality of pMOS transistors prevents a path from a drain voltages of the two-transistor level delay based circuit to source voltages of the two-transistor level delay based circuit when inputs associated with the two-transistor level delay based circuit are associated with a value that is equal to zero of when the inputs associated with the two-transistor level delay based circuit are associated with a different value of one.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the gate component further includes an additional nMOS transistor from the plurality of nMOS transistors connected to the additional subset of the plurality of nMOS transistors that are coupled to the additional subset of the plurality of pMOS transistors.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the gate component further including the additional nMOS transistor corresponds to a sense-amplifier circuit.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the sense-amplifier circuit performs digital hysteresis.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the performing of the digital hysteresis enables the maintaining of an output value of the two-transistor level delay based circuit until a plurality of inputs are reset from a first value to a second value.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first value corresponds to one and the second value corresponds to zero.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the two-transistor level delay based circuit has a fixed delay value that is independent of an input bit-width.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the sense-amplifier circuit reduces a load of the write sub-circuit component.

12. A system for null convention logic based applications with high input bit-widths, the system comprising:

a two-transistor level delay based circuit including an nMOS active resistor and a plurality of nMOS transistors and a pMOS active resistor and a plurality of pMOS transistors, the two-transistor level delay based circuit has a fixed delay value that is independent of an input bit-width, wherein

at least a subset of the plurality of nMOS transistors are coupled according to a parallel OR configuration configured to generate a first reverse logic signal and at least a subset of the plurality of pMOS transistors are coupled according to the parallel OR configuration configured to generate a second reverse logic signal,

a source terminal of the nMOS active resistor is coupled to respective drain terminals of the plurality of nMOS transistors,

a source terminal of the pMOS active resistor is coupled to respective drain terminals of the plurality of pMOS transistors,

a gate terminal of the pMOS active resistor and a gate terminal of the nMOS active resistor shorted to connect to an inverted output, and

wherein the nMOS active resistor and the pMOS active resistor are coupled to each other in a parallel configuration;

a write sub-circuit component includes at least one of the plurality of nMOS transistors coupled to at least one of the plurality of pMOS transistors, wherein:

a gate terminal of the at least one of the plurality of nMOS transistors is configured to receive the first reverse logic signal,

a gate terminal of the at least one of the plurality of pMOS transistors is configured to receive the second reverse logic signal, and the write sub-circuit component configured to generate an output; and

a gate component includes an additional subset of the plurality of nMOS transistors coupled to an additional subset of the plurality of pMOS transistors, the gate component corresponding to a semi-static cross-coupled inverter circuit, the gate component configured to receive the output and generate the inverted output.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the two-transistor level delay based circuit is a Mueller C-element based electromagnetic compatibility circuit.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the write sub-circuit is based on a modified t-gate.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the source terminal of the nMOS active resistor being coupled to the respective drain terminals of the plurality of nMOS transistors, and the source terminal of the pMOS active resistor being coupled to the respective drain terminals of the plurality of pMOS transistors prevents a path from a drain voltages of the two-transistor level delay based circuit to source voltages of the two-transistor level delay based circuit when inputs associated with the two-transistor level delay based circuit are associated with a value that is equal to zero of when the inputs associated with the two-transistor level delay based circuit are associated with a different value of one.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the gate component further includes an additional nMOS transistor from the plurality of nMOS transistors connected to the additional subset of the plurality of nMOS transistors that are coupled to the additional subset of the plurality of pMOS transistors.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the gate component further including the additional nMOS transistor corresponds to a sense-amplifier circuit.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the sense-amplifier circuit performs digital hysteresis.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the performing of the digital hysteresis enables the maintaining of an output value of the two-transistor level delay based circuit until a plurality of inputs are reset from a first value to a second value.

20. The system of claim 17 , wherein the sense-amplifier circuit reduces a load of the write sub-circuit component.

Assignments (3)
CONFIRMATORY LICENSE Recorded May 28, 2025
From: UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
To: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Reel/Frame 071232/0403 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 10, 2025
From: EMMERT, JOHN MARTIN
To: UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
Reel/Frame 070798/0735 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 6, 2023
From: EMMERT, JOHN MARTIN
To: UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
Reel/Frame 063869/0645 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63122073 · Dec 7, 2020
Related Publication 20240029780A1 · Jan 25, 2024
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