Superconducting Electronics With CMOS Embedded Memory (02-214D)

"Irvine Sensors Corporation (ISC), in collaboration with University of California, Berkeley, is proposing to quasi-monolithically combine CMOS circuits with superconducting electronics. Superconducting electronics, especially rapid-single-flux-quantum(RSFQ) logic, hold promise for 50 to 100 Gb/s clock frequency operation. The proposed innovation is the integration technique, shown in Figure 1, in which CMOS circuits are combined with superconducting electronics with no loss of performance. Theapproach involves placing tested CMOS circuits in a specially prepared silicon-based alignment fixture, planarizing the front and back surfaces, and adding superconducting electronics on top of this active substrate. The overall goal of the proposedeffort is to demonstrate embedded CMOS memory with superconducting processing functionality. Superconductor integrated circuit modules are being developed for ultra-high bit rate processing in very large focal plane array sensors, telecommunications, andsupercomputing. Sufficient quantities of compatible memories will be a key enabling component for these applications. Embedded-memory superconducting electronics will be relevant to critical space-based signal processing and switching functions.Commercial applications are concentrated in the high-speed data communication market, including supercomputeres and Internet routers."