Multi-state digital and quantum signal processing and emerging nanoelectronic processing hardware: complexity, performance and capabilities

Emerged nanoelectronic devices enable resonance phenomena, multiple-valued logics, multi-state switching, high-frequency fast switching, low losses and other advantageous capabilities. Typical examples of such devices are resonant-tunneling diodes, transistors, optoelectronic devices, etc. Those opportunities ultimately require a refinement of baseline analysis, design and evaluation principles. This paper studies processing, performance and capabilities of digital systems established using nanoscaled electronic devices which compose large-scale integrated circuits. Fundamental, hardware and software solutions are considered. CMOS-centric device-, module- and system-level realizations should be fully supported by processing arithmetics, organizations and architectures. The analysis and design aspects must be examined. We focus on the analysis of multi-state digital signal processing and information processing. The results reported are verified. Utilizing the first principles of information theory and enabling design paradigms, we expand the solutions toward coherent analysis of complexity and information-centric digital data processing. We quantitatively study various performance quantities, measures and capabilities which can comprise performance metrics. Those analysis and design concepts suit a general class of problems, e.g., spanning from the conventional VLSI design of digital systems to envisioned neuromorphological processing platforms. The ability to accomplish the aforementioned studies significantly contributes to the forefront design paradigms of reconfigurable (adaptive), parallel and scalar digital signal processors (DSPs). Numerous examples are examined in detail, supporting the proposed concepts of information-theoretic analysis and coherent design of information processing platforms.