Design of ternary IIL circuits based on theory of grounded current switches

Abstract

According to the operating principle of I/sup 2/L circuits, the authors propose the theory of grounded current switches to describe the interaction between grounded transistors and current signals in I/sup 2/L circuits. In this theory, the switching state of the grounded transistor and current signal are described separately by two different kinds of variables. Also the threshold comparison operation and grounding operation are introduced to connect these two kinds of variables. Based upon the discussions on the properties of operations and the synthesis of functions, the design procedure for ternary I/sup 2/L circuits with level restoration is proposed. Ternary I/sup 2/L complement gate with level restoration and ternary quantizer are designed as examples. The results have confirmed that this theory can lead to a better design of I/sup 2/L circuits, thus circuits simpler than that previously presented can be obtained.<>