Synthesis Methodology of Polymorphic Circuits Using Polymorphic NAND/NOR Gates

In this paper, a novel approach dealing with the issues of multifunctional (polymorphic) logic circuits synthesis is presented. Crucial notion behind the polymorphic concept resides in the fact that such kind of circuit is able to perform more than one logic function, while the underlying structure
keeps its arrangement untouched. The outlined behaviour is established by means of utilizing special multifunctional components (gates) during circuit design phase, where the individual connections among them remains unchanged (no reconfiguration takes place). The exact function, which the circuit is purposely executing at a given moment, is determined by the actual operating environment (e.g. supply voltage, temperature or a special signal). The proposed synthesis method is based on a formal Boolean representation of corresponding
functions. Its main advantage can be recognized in strictly rigid and algorithmic notation with the employment of minimization techniques, which is in a direct contrast to competitive solutions, predominantly based on heuristic approaches.