An energy-efficient ternary interconnection link for asynchronous systems

We introduce a new ternary link including a binary-to-ternary encoder and a ternary-to-binary decoder in voltage-mode multiple-valued logic (MVL). This link improves the transistor count compared to existing designs and it has no DC current path. The complete link was simulated with SPICE and a 0.13/spl mu/m CMOS technology. It additionally shows interesting advantages on power consumption for global interconnects compared to full-swing signaling binary systems (up to 56.4% less energy consumption). Its low propagation delay is also an advantage in the design of high-speed on-chip links for asynchronous systems.