Characterization of the Displacement Tolerance of QCA Interconnects

Quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) is one of several emerging nanoscale devices that is targeted at scalable molecular electronics. In this paper, the tolerance to cell displacements of a QCA interconnect is analyzed in order to determine limits on allowable displacements, as well as to identify the important failure mechanisms. Numerical simulations using the coherence vector formalism are performed for a short length of QCA interconnect under various conditions. Contrary to previous work, our results indicate that wider interconnects display a higher sensitivity to cell displacements due to the formation of cell clusters, which are more prominent in wider interconnects as a result of the increased number of cells.