Chemical reaction network designs for asynchronous logic circuits.

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Computer Science
• Chemical Engineering

Background:

• Chemical Reaction Networks (CRNs) model chemical kinetics for digital and analogue processes.
• Existing CRN designs for synchronous circuits require a clock, limiting physical realization.
• Asynchronous sequential logic uses handshaking protocols, avoiding clock dependency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design novel CRN motifs for asynchronous logic, arithmetic, and control flow elements.
• To utilize a bi-molecular reaction motif with catalytic reactions and uniform rates.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of CRN-based asynchronous computation.

Main Methods:

• Developed novel CRN designs for asynchronous computational elements.
• Modeled and validated designs using Microsoft's GEC tool for deterministic semantics.
• Employed the PRISM model checker for stochastic semantics analysis.

Main Results:

• Successfully designed asynchronous logic, arithmetic, and control flow elements using CRNs.
• Validated designs under both deterministic and stochastic semantics.
• Demonstrated emulation of asynchronous component functions at low molecular counts.

Conclusions:

• Novel CRN designs enable the construction of clock-independent asynchronous circuits.
• The proposed designs are robust and function effectively even with limited molecular resources.
• This work advances the potential for physical realization of CRN-based computing devices.