Design tools for oscillator-based computing systems

Recently, general-purpose computing schemes have been proposed that use phase relationships to represent Boolean logic levels and employ self-sustaining nonlinear oscillators as latches and registers. Such phase-based systems have superior noise immunity relative to traditional level-encoded logic, hence are of interest for next-generation computing using nanodevices. However, the design of such systems poses special challenges for existing tools. We present a suite of techniques and tools that provide designers with efficient simulation and convenient visualization facilities at all stages of phase logic system design. We demonstrate our tools through a case study of the design of a phase logic finite state machine (FSM). We build this FSM and validate our design tools and processes against measurements. Our plan is to release our tools to the community in open source form.