A patent for a new single-phase clocked flip-flop, constructed from as few as 18 transistors, has been granted.
The device was initially created by PhD student Yunpeng Cai during his studies at ECS and developed into a robust design while on his internship at Arm Research, Cambridge. Initial silicon results with the contention-free design incorporated into the Pipistrelle 4 test chip show significant power and area benefits. A publication is now in preparation.
More information can be found at https://patents.google.com/patent/US9985613B2/