Design and simulation of an experiment for assessing the operation of QCA cells

A computational paradigm based on the Quantum Cellular Automaton (QCA) concept was proposed by Lent et al., offering new perspectives for the exploitation of single-electron effects in nanoelectronics. The basic logic building block is represented by a bistable cell, containing two excess electrons that can assume two different configurations. We have designed an experiment for detecting cell switching, which does not require the use of charge detectors, and that is therefore particularly well suited for nanoscale silicon-on-insulator cells, for which it would be more difficult to add nearby charge detectors. We have also developed a specifically designed Monte Carlo simulator that we have used to validate the design of the experiment.