Modular Dissipation Analysis for QCA

A modular approach for determination of lower bounds on heat dissipation in clocked quantum-cellular automata (QCA) circuits is proposed, and its application is illustrated. This approach, which is based on a methodology developed previously for determining dissipation bounds in nanocomputing technologies, simplifies analysis of clocked QCA circuits that are designed according to specified design rules. Fundamental lower bounds on the dissipative costs of irreversible information loss for a (generally large and complex) QCA circuit are obtained in the modular approach by (i) decomposing the circuit into smaller zones, (ii) obtaining dissipation bounds for the individual circuit zones, and (iii) combining results from the individual-zone analyses into a single bound for the full circuit. The decomposition strategy is specifically designed to enable this analytical simplification while ensuring that the consequences of intercellular interactions across zone boundaries - interactions that determine the reversibility of local information loss in individual zone - are fully preserved and properly captured in the modular analysis. Application of this approach to dissipation analysis of a QCA half adder is illustrated, and prospects of using the modular approach for automation of QCA dissipation analyses is briefly discussed.

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