Use of multiple‐valued logic with 1.9‐V operational power supply to obtain a high‐speed current‐mode logic circuit

Abstract This paper proposes a new construction of bipolar current‐mode (CML) logic circuits based on the multiple‐valued logic concept. Applying the multiple‐valued logic concept, the new logic function, which can replace the conventional stack logic circuit and can be operated by a low supply voltage, can be realized. In conventional circuits, it is difficult to generate a signal with multiple voltage levels at the same time as the output of a logic gate and logic gates must be connected by placing a level‐shifter between them. A circuit is devised in this study that generates the multiple‐valued logic levels (three levels in this paper) simultaneously at the output of the logic gate. Also, it is examined whether or not the basic logic functions, such as NAND, NOR, EX‐OR, and D‐Latch, can be realized by the proposed configuration. The characteristics of the proposed circuit are circuit simulated by a SPICE circuit simulator. It is seen as a result that the power consumption, the logic density, and the high‐speed performances, comparable to the conventional stacked‐gate logic circuit, can be realized with the low supply voltage of 1.9 V.