An HDL model of magnetic quantum-dot cellular automata devices and circuits

This chapter provides an overview of magnetic quantum-dot cellular automata (MQCA). It describes the basic principles of the proposed framework and tool. The chapter introduces the HDL model of a MQCA. It presents the functional model used in the HDL simulation for the MQCA building blocks. Some of these blocks are similar to the electrostatic implementation, while others are specific to an MQCA implementation. The chapter also introduces a novel n-input AND gate that exploits the characteristics and functionality of MQCA. It also shows the effectiveness of the proposed tool to investigate new gates while establishing at a functional level its operational features. The use of nanomagnets is very attractive because MQCA can operate at room temperature, and has been shown to be easier than the molecular implementation of electrostatic QCA. QCA operates on a computational paradigm based on the interactions of a set of bistable cells.