A low-PDAP and high-PSNR approximate 4:2 compressor cell in CNFET technology

Purpose This paper aims to present an inexact 4:2 compressor cell using carbon nanotube filed effect transistors (CNFETs). Design/methodology/approach To design this cell, the capacitive threshold logic (CTL) has been used. Findings To evaluate the proposed cell, comprehensive simulations are carried out at two levels of the circuit and image processing. At the circuit level, the HSPICE software has been used and the power consumption, delay, and power-delay product are calculated. Also, the power-delaytransistor count product (PDAP) is used to make a compromise between all metrics. On the other hand, the Monte Carlo analysis has been used to scrutinize the robustness of the proposed cell against the variations in the manufacturing process. The results of simulations at this level of abstraction indicate the superiority of the proposed cell to other circuits. At the application level, the MATLAB software is also used to evaluate the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) figure of merit. At this level, the two primary images are multiplied by a multiplier circuit consisting of 4:2 compressors. The results of this simulation also show the superiority of the proposed cell to others. Originality/value This cell significantly reduces the number of transistors and only consists of NOT gates.