ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a description of adiabatic logic introduced 40 years ago but not yet applied in the industry. It demonstrates the theoretical interest of this principle and also calculates the limits of use of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The adiabatic principle of charge and discharge of a capacitance is identified as the optimal solution for ultra-low-power electronics. Nevertheless, the use of CMOS for adiabatic logic introduces nonadiabatic dissipation due to threshold voltages, and finally the gain is far from the theoretical limit. The nano-electrical mechanical systems (NEMS) technology appears to be very interesting because the leakage dissipation is reduced compared to CMOS and because threshold effects can be reduced in adiabatic implementation. A detailed analysis and comparison of NEMS and CMOS technologies for low-power adiabatic logic implementation is presented. The chapter concludes with a detailed comparison of the energy-performance properties of the different explored technologies and with an introduction of a new paradigm: the capacitance-based adiabatic logic.
