Overview
Q2LAL was developed by Erik DeBenedictis as an enhancement on S2LAL that has advantages in some circumstances. Quiet 2-Level Adiabatic Logic (Q2LAL) is like S2LAL but signals with positive-going pulses for A and -A, i.e. A^ and -A^ in S2LAL notation. The advantage is equal power draw for A=0 and A=1, if engineered correctly, leading to less noise or the circuit being “quiet.”
Simulation code is in the circuit file sQ2.cir in the github repository https://github.com/erikdebenedictis.
Circuit Diagram
The adiabatic amplifier circuit (i.e. unlatched) is shown below.

The circuit requires a clamp signal či-1, which can be generated by two transmission gates (four transistors) from clocks. The clamp signal is not dependent on data, so it can be generated once and used in several places.
Connections
Note connection 4 is an optional additional output. If the Extra_buffer parameter is nonzero, the circuit will generate a second adiabatic amplifier with output connected to parameter 4. If Extra_buffer is zero, no transistors are generated and parameter 4 will be a wire that does not go anywhere. The extra buffer is useful for suppressing suppress fault propagation. For example, short circuiting parameter 4 to ground will not affect the output voltage of parameter 3.
- AT input signal true rail: Ai-1^
- AC input signal complement rail: -Ai-1^
- T output signal true rail: Qi^
- T2 additional buffered copy of the output signal, with controlled drive, true rail: buf Qi^
- C output signal complement rail: Qiv
- pT one of the power-clock phases: phii^
- Cl clamp signal či-1: Clmpi-1v
- GND DC power supply ground voltage: GND
- nsub nFET substrate bias: nsub
- psub pFET substrate bias: psub
Parameters
- ini initial state as a voltage, either gg or vv: parameter
Global parameters
PW: width multiplier for drivers on the true rail only
Long_Register: Deprecated debugging flag that removes the clamp on signal AT. Set to 0.
Extra_buffer: If nonzero, causes an additional driver to be created on the true rail with transistor width Clock_Drive. The output of this buffer drives output T2, which is otherwise not connected.
.SUBCKT QAAmp AT AC T T2 C pT Cl GND nsub psub ini='gg' PW=1.002 $ Q2LAL two-rail adiabatic amplifier. Args: AT/C T(2)/C clock clamp GND substrate supplies
.ic V(T)='ini' V(C)='vv-ini' $ .ic V(a)={gg} V(a2)=ini
xM0 pT AT T nsub nFET n=1 m=PW $ pass gate
xM1 pT AC T psub pFET n=1 m=PW
xM2 pT AC C nsub nFET n=1 m=1 $ pass gate
xM3 pT AT C psub pFET n=1 m=1
xM4 GND AC T nsub nFET n=1 m=1 $ clamp
xM5 GND AT C nsub nFET n=1 m=1
xM6 GND Cl T nsub nFET n=1 m=1 $ clamp
.if (Long_Register=0)
xM7 GND Cl C nsub nFET n=1 m=1
.endif
.if (Extra_Buffer=0)
.else
xM8 pT AT T2 nsub nFET n=1 m='Clock_Drive*PW' $ pass gate
xM9 pT AC T2 psub pFET n=1 m='Clock_Drive*PW'
xM10 GND AC T2 nsub nFET n=1 m='Clock_Drive' $ clamp
xM11 GND Cl T2 nsub nFET n=1 m='Clock_Drive' $ clamp
.endif
.ENDS QAAmp
Typesetting Test Area
The following uses cut-and-paste from EPD’s Word 2003 figures. Render –Ai-1^: -Âi-1 (so the circumflex diacritical mark works from cut-and-paste). Likewise for cups (caron) či-1 (but doesn’t the cee look a little skinny?)
The following is an attempt to render phi3^ by cut-and-paste: f̂3 (renders as an eff not a phi), but with special character plugin, we get φ3 (which is correct but not the glyph style we are familiar with).
References
- [DeBenedictis 21a] DeBenedictis, Erik P. “Cryogenic Adiabatic Transistor Circuits for Quantum Computer Control.” 2021 IEEE 14th Workshop on Low Temperature Electronics (WOLTE). IEEE, 2021. https://ar.zettaflops.org/CATC/CATC4QCtl-WOLTE.pdf.
- [DeBenedictis 21b] Quiet 2-Level Adiabatic Logic. Zettaflops, LLC Technical Report ZF009 https://ar.zettaflops.org/CATC/Q2LAL.pdf
- [DeBenedictis 21c] Energy Management for Adiabatic Circuits. Zettaflops, LLC Technical Report ZF008, v1.2, April 15, 2021. https://ar.zettaflops.org/CATC/EMgt4Adia-ZF008-v1.2.pdf.