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This paper introduces an architecture for quantum-dot cellular automata circuits with the potential for high throughput and low power dissipation. The combination of regions with Bennett clocking and memory storage combines the low power advantage of reversible computing with the high throughput advantage of pipelining. Two case studies are initially presented to evaluate the proposed pipelined architecture in terms of throughput and power consumption due to information dissipation. A general model for assessing power consumption is also proposed. This paper shows that the advantages possible by using a Bennett clocking scheme also depend on circuit topology, thus also confirming the validity of the proposed analysis and model.

The US Federal Government has convened a major committee to determine future directions for government sponsored high end computing system acquisitions and enabling research. The High End Computing Revitalization Task Force was inaugurated in 2003 involving all Federal agencies for which high end computing is critical to meeting mission goals. As part of the HECRTF agenda, a multi-day community wide workshop was conducted involving experts from academia, industry, and the national laboratories and centers to provide the broadest perspective on important issues related to the HECRTF purview. Among the most critical issues in establishing future directions is the relative merits of commodity based systems such as clusters and MPPs versus custom system architecture strategies. This paper presents a perspective on the importance and value of the custom architecture approach in meeting future US requirements in supercomputing. The contents of this paper reflect the ideas of the participants of the working group chartered to explore custom enabled system architectures for high end computing. As in any such consensus presentation, while this paper captures the key ideas and tradeoffs, it does not exactly match the viewpoint of any single contributor, and there remains much room for constructive disagreement and refinement of the essential conclusions.