Applications of Nonlinear and Reconfigurable Electronic Circuits

In the search for small, fast and low power electronic circuits the microelectronic engineering community is increasingly faced with understanding the physical and non-ideal properties of the circuit at the transistor level. This is especially true with regard to the use of modern fabrication processes where transistor gate length is measured in tens of nanometers and physical properties such as leakage current and non-ideal sub-threshold behavior become more prevalent. The purpose of this work is to present the construction of some simple electronic circuits that possess nonlinear and dynamical properties and to illustrate their utility in a few applications. Specifically, the construction of oscillating, pattern forming and mixed signal reconfigurable circuits is discussed. In these examples, the nonlinear and dynamical properties of the circuits play a critical role in their operation. Experimental results from fabricated circuits are presented. Useful analytical tools are also discussed in the context of constructing and understanding the operation of the circuits. Similarities in the construction of several circuits lead to the development of a generic analog and nonlinear electronic fabric, similar to field-programmable gate arrays. Experimental results demonstrating configurability are shown. The array is constructed using non-volatile floating-gate based transistors. This type of proposed circuit construction and operation takes advantage of the nonlinear properties of the circuit and illustrates how many undesirable properties can actually provide utility.