Adiabatic Logic Circuits: A Retrospect

With ever-increasing growth in VLSI technologies the number of gates per chip area is constantly increasing, while the gate switching energy does not decrease at the same rate, so the power dissipation rises and heat removal becomes more difficult and expensive. Then, to limit the power dissipation adiabatic operation promises large reductions of power consumption because it does not dissipate energy. This paper reviews different types of adiabatic logic families. First, adiabatic logic circuits working principle is discussed. Next, adiabatic switching and how it can be used to conserve power is discussed. Also reviewed is an adiabatic logic gate alongwith its circuit. Finally, adiabatic logic family is covered, which can be classified as fully and partially adiabatic alongwith discussion circuit diagram and details of each. This review also covers some important future research directions.Published in MIT International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 2, August 2013, pp. 108–114. ISSN No. 2230-7672 ©MIT Publication