Abstract: In modern circuit design, concept of Shannon decomposition of switching functions is widely used. On the other hand, in Information Theory, Shannon entropy as a quantitative measure of information is a key notion. In this paper, we relate these two concepts, belonging to different areas, into an approach to the minimization of switching functions in Exclusive-or Sum-Of-Products (AND/EXOR) form. The Shannon decomposition and Davio decomposition for AND/EXOR expressions are investigated and interpreted in Information Theory terms. Thank to that, we have proposed an entropy-based strategy for minimization of switching function. We have provided a comparison and an experimental verification of this strategy with some known heuristic minimization strategies using benchmarks. In some cases our program InfoEXOR have shown extremely better results. Moreover, information theory notation of classical decomposition of switching functions gives new point of view to the existing design styles.
Key words: Switching functions, minimizaton of switching functions, Shannon decomosition, Davio decomposition.