Bootstrapped full-swing BiCMOS/BiNMOS logic circuits for 1.2-3.3 Vsupply voltage regime

Novel full-swing BiCMOS/BiNMOS logic circuits using bootstrapping in the pull-up section for low supply voltage down to 1 V are reported. These circuit configurations use noncomplementary BiCMOS technology. Simulations have shown that they outperform other BiCMOS circuits at low supply voltage using 0.35 μm BiCMOS process. The delay and power dissipation of several NAND configurations have been compared. The new circuits offer delay reduction between 40 and 66% over CMOS in the range 1.2-3.3 V supply voltage. The minimum fanout at which the new circuits outperform CMOS gate is 5, which is lower than that of other gates particularly for sub-2.5 V operation     

A sub-2.0 V BiCMOS logic circuit with a BiCMOS charge pump

A BiCMOS logic circuit with very small input capacitance has been developed, which operates at low supply voltages. A High-beta BiCMOS (Hβ-BiCMOS) gate circuit which fully utilizes the bipolar transistor features achieves 10 times the speed of a CMOS gate circuit with the same input capacitance and operating at 3.3 V supply voltage. In order to lower the minimum supply voltage of Hβ-BiCMOS, a BiCMOS circuit configuration using a charge pump to pull up the output high level of the BiCMOS gate circuit is proposed. By introducing a BiCMOS charge pump, Hβ-BiCMOS achieves very high speed operation at sub-2.0 V supply voltage. It has also been demonstrated that only a very small number of charge pump circuits are required to drive a large number of Hβ-BiCMOS gate circuits     

Design of a 1.5 V full-swing bootstrapped BiCMOS logic circuit

A low voltage full-swing BiCMOS bootstrapping technique that allows the design of BiCMOS logic circuits at supply voltages down to 1.5 V is presented. This is the first 1.5-V design technique that does not require complementary bipolar devices. The technique is shown to have significant advantages over existing low voltage BiCMOS logic designs in sub-3 V operation. Inverter gates fabricated using a 0.8-μm technology were operated at 150 MHz with a supply voltage of 1.5 V. Implementation of this technique on dynamic logic is also demonstrated and experimental results match closely with simulation     

Full-swing Schottky BiCMOS/BiNMOS and the effects of operatingfrequency and supply voltage scaling

Novel full-swing BiCMOS/BiNMOS logic circuits which use Schottky diode in the pull-up section for low supply-voltage regime are developed. The full-swing pull-up operation is performed by saturating the bipolar transistor with a base current pulse. After which, the base is isolated and bootstrapped to a voltage higher than V_DD. The BiCMOS/BiNMOS circuits do not require a PNP bipolar transistor. They outperform other BiCMOS circuits at low supply voltage, particularly at 2 V using 0.5 μm BiCMOS technology. Delay, area, and power dissipation comparisons have been performed. The new circuits offer delay reduction at 2 V supply voltage of 37% to 56% over CMOS. The minimum fanout at which the new circuits outperform CMOS gate is 2 to 3. Furthermore, the effect of the operating frequency on the delay of a wide range of BiCMOS and BiNMOS circuits is reported for the first time, showing the superiority of the Schottky circuits     

Merged BiCMOS logic to extend the CMOS/BiCMOS performance crossoverbelow 2.5-V supply

The authors discuss the merged BiCMOS (MBiCMOS) gate, a unique circuit configuration to improve BiCMOS gate performance at low supply voltages. MBiCMOS maintains a measured delay and power-delay advantage over CMOS into the 2-V supply range, in a simple four-device gate that does not require any change in the standard BiCMOS processing sequence. In a 2-μm technology, MBiCMOS outperforms CMOS down to a 2.6-V supply. Gates designed for fabrication in a 0.5-μm technology and simulated using measured device parameters indicate that MBiCMOS can be used to extend the performance crossover voltage to below 2 V in the submicrometer regime. A full-swing version of the MBiCMOS gate (FS-MBiCMOS) is introduced. Simulations of 2-μm gates show FS-MBiCMOS/CMOS performance crossover voltages of 2.2 V     

A new true-single-phase-clocking BiCMOS dynamic pipelined logicfamily for high-speed, low-voltage pipelined system applications

New true-single-phase-clocking (TSPC) BiCMOS/BiNMOS/BiPMOS dynamic logic circuits and BiCMOS/BiNMOS dynamic latch logic circuits for high-speed dynamic pipelined system applications are proposed and analyzed. In the proposed circuits, the bootstrapping technique is utilized to achieve fast near-full-swing operation. The circuit performance of the proposed new dynamic logic circuits and dynamic latch logic circuits in both domino and pipelined applications are simulated by using HSPICE with 1 μm BiCMOS technology. Simulation results have shown that the new dynamic logic circuits and dynamic latch logic circuits in both domino and pipelined applications have better speed performance than that of CMOS and other BiCMOS dynamic logic circuits as the supply voltage is scaled down to 2 V. The operating frequency and power dissipation/MHz of the pipelined system, which is constructed by the new clock-high-evaluate-BiCMOS dynamic latch logic circuit and clock-low-evaluate-BiCMOS (BiNMOS) dynamic latch logic circuit, and the logic units with two stacked MOS transistors, are about 2.36 (2.2) times and 1.15 (1.1) times those of the CMOS TSPC dynamic logic under 1.5-pF output loading at 2 V, respectively. Moreover, the chip area of these two BiCMOS pipelined systems is about 1.9 times and 1.7 times as compared with that of the CMOS TSPC pipelined system. A two-input dynamic AND gate fabricated with 1 μm BiCMOS technology verifies the speed advantage of the new BiNMOS dynamic logic circuit. Due to the excellent circuit performance in high-speed, low-voltage operation, the proposed new dynamic logic circuits and dynamic latch logic circuits are feasible for high-speed, low-voltage dynamic pipelined system applications     

A 1.5-V differential cross-coupled bootstrapped BiCMOS logic forlow-voltage applications

Two new bipolar complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (BiCMOS) differential logic circuits called differential cross-coupled bootstrapped BiCMOS (DC²B-BiCMOS) and differential cross-coupled BiCMOS (DC²-BiCMOS) logic are proposed and analyzed. In the proposed two new logic circuits, the novel cross-coupled BiCMOS buffer circuit structure is used to achieve high-speed operation under low supply voltage. Moreover, a new bootstrapping technique that uses only one bootstrapping capacitor is adopted in the proposed DC²B-BiCMOS logic to achieve fast near-full-swing operation at 1.5 V supply voltage for two differential outputs. HSPICE simulation results have shown that the new DC²B-BiCMOS at 1.5 V and the new DC²-BiCMOS logic at 2 V have better speed performance than that of CMOS and other BiCMOS differential logic gates. It has been verified by the measurement results on an experimental chip of three-input DC²B-BiCMOS XOR/XNOR gate chain fabricated by 0.8 μm BiCMOS technology that the speed of DC²-BiCMOS at 1.5 V is about 1.8 times of that of the CMOS logic at 1.5 V. Due to the excellent circuit performance in high-speed, low-voltage operation, the proposed DC²B-BiCMOS and DC²-BiCMOS logic circuits are feasible for low-voltage, high-speed applications     

A delay model and optimization method of a low-power BiCMOS logiccircuit

A new delay model and optimization method is proposed for a low-power BiCMOS driver. A transient overdrive, base directly-tied complementary BiCMOS logic circuit operates faster than conventional BiCMOS and CMOS circuits for supply voltage down to 1.5 V by using a speed-power-area optimization approach. An analytical delay expression is derived for the first time for a full-swing BiCMOS circuit with short-channel effects. The circuit is simulated with a HSPICE model using 0.8-μm BiCMOS technology with a 6-GHz n-p-n and a 1-GHz p-n-p transistor. The simulation results have verified the analytical results and demonstrated that the circuit can work up to 200 MHz operating frequency for a load capacitance of 1 pF at 1.5 V of supply voltage     

1.5V高速全摆幅BiCMOS逻辑电路的研究

分析了影响ＢｉＣＭＯＳ全摆幅输出和高速度的因素,探索了一种新的抑制ＢＪＴ过饱和和反馈网络,提出了具有高速全摆幅输出的ＢｉＣＭＯＳ逻辑单元。该单元可以工作于１．５Ｖ,并且易于多输入扩展,它特别适于ＶＬＳＩ设计。模拟结果表明,该单元实现了优于ＣＭＯＳ的全摆幅输出,且其速度高于同类ＣＭＯＳ电路１０倍以上。     

A 1.5 V full-swing BiCMOS dynamic logic gate circuit suitable forVLSI using low-voltage BiCMOS technology

This paper presents a 1.5 V full-swing BiCMOS dynamic logic gate circuit, based on a dynamic pull-down BiPMOS configuration, suitable for VLSI using low-voltage BiCMOS technology. With an output load of 0.2 pf, the 1.5 V full-swing BiCMOS dynamic logic gate circuit shows a more than 1.8 times improvement in speed as compared to the CMOS static one     

高速低压低功耗BiCMOS逻辑电路及工艺技术

介绍了几种高开关速度、低电源电压等级，低功耗的BiCMOS逻辑门电路，并分析了它们的工作原理及其工艺技术情况。结果表明，这些电路的电源电压可达到2．0V以下，而且信号传输延迟较小，有的还实现了全摆幅输出，因而它们可用于便携式电子设备和其它VLSI和ULSI新品等场合。     

2.5-V bipolar/CMOS circuits for 0.25-μm BiCMOS technology

An ECL circuit with an active pull-down device, operated from a CMOS supply voltage, is described as a high-speed digital circuit for a 0.25-μm BiCMOS technology. A pair of ECL/CMOS level converters with built-in logic capability is presented for effective intermixing of ECL with CMOS circuits. Using a 2.5-V supply and a reduced-swing BiNMOS buffer, the ECL circuit has reduced power dissipation, while still providing good speed. A design example shows the implementation of complex logic by emitter and collector dottings and the selective use of ECL circuits to achieve high performance     

3.3-V BiCMOS current-mode logic circuits for high-speed adders

New high-speed BiCMOS current mode logic (BCML) circuits for fast carry propagation and generation are described. These circuits are suitable for reduced supply voltage of 3.3-V. A 32-b BiCMOS carry select adder (CSA) is designed using 0.5-μm BiCMOS technology. The BCML circuits are used for the correct carry path for high-speed operation while the rest of the adder is implemented in CMOS to achieve high density and low power dissipation. Simulation results show that the BiCMOS CSA outperforms emitter coupled logic (ECL) and CMOS adders     

Study of BiCMOS logic gate configurations for improved low-voltageperformance

A simple BiCMOS configuration employing the source-well tie PMOS/n-p-n pull-down combination is proposed for low-voltage, high-performance operations. The improved BiCMOS gate delay time over that of the NMOS/n-p-n (conventional) BiCMOS gate is confirmed by means of inverter simulations and measured ring oscillator data. The source-well tie PMOS/n-p-n BiCMOS gate outperforms its conventional BiCMOS counterpart in the low-voltage supply range, at both high and low temperatures. A critical speed path from the 68030 internal circuit is used as a benchmark for the proposed BiCMOS design technique. The measured propagation delay of the BiCMOS speed path is faster than its CMOS counterpart down to 2.3 V supply voltage at -10°C and sub-2 V at 110°C     

BiCMOS circuit technology for a 704 MHz ATM switch LSI

This paper describes BiCMOS level-converter circuits and clock circuits that increase VLSI interface speed to 1 GHz, and their application to a 704 MHz ATM switch LSI. An LSI with a high speed interface requires a BiCMOS multiplexer/demultiplexer (MUX/DEMUX) on the chip to reduce internal operation speed. A MUX/DEMUX with minimum power dissipation and a minimum pattern area can be designed using the proposed converter circuits. The converter circuits, using weakly cross-coupled CMOS inverters and a voltage regulator circuit, can convert signal levels between LCML and positive CMOS at a speed of 500 MHz. Data synchronization in the high speed region is ensured by a new BiCMOS clock circuit consisting of a pure ECL path and retiming circuits. The clock circuit reduces the chip latency fluctuation of the clock signal and absorbs the delay difference between the ECL clock and data through the CMOS circuits. A rerouting-Banyan (RRB) ATM switch, employing both the proposed converter circuits and the clock circuits, has been fabricated with 0.5 μm BiCMOS technology. The LSI, composed of CMOS 15 K gate logic, 8 Kb RAM, I Kb FIFO and ECL 1.6 K gate logic, achieved an operation speed of 704-MHz with power dissipation of 7.2 W     

A 6-ns ECL 100 K I/O and 8-ns 3.3-V TTL I/O 4-Mb BiCMOS SRAM

The authors report a 4 M word×1 b/1 M word×4 b BiCMOS SRAM that can be metal mask programmed as either a 6-ns access time for an ECL 100 K I/O interface to an 8-ns access time for a 3.3-V TTL I/O interface. Die size is 18.87 mm×8.77 mm. Memory cell size is 5.8 μm×3.2 μm. In order to achieve such high-speed address access times the following technologies were developed: (1) a BiCMOS level converter that directly connects the ECL signal level to the CMOS level; (2) a high-speed BiCMOS circuit with low threshold voltage nMOSFETs; (3) a design method for determining the optimum number of decoder gate stages and the optimum size of gate transistors; (4) high-speed bipolar sensing circuits used at 3.3-V supply voltage; and (5) 0.55-μm BiCMOS process technology with a triple-well structure     

A BiCMOS dynamic multiplier using Wallace tree reductionarchitecture and 1.5-V full-swing BiCMOS dynamic logic circuit

The authors present a BiCMOS dynamic multiplier, which is free from race and charge-sharing problems, using Wallace tree reduction architecture and 1.5-V full-swing BiCMOS dynamic logic circuit. Based on a 1-μm BiCMOS technology, a 1.5-V 8×8 multiplier designed, shows a 2.3× improvement in speed as compared to the CMOS static one     

A 0.5-V 1-Msps Track-and-Hold Circuit With 60-dB SNDR

We discuss a design technique that makes possible the operation of track-and-hold (T/H) circuits with very low supply voltages, down to 0.5 V. A 0.5-V 1-Msps T/H circuit with a 60-dB SNDR is presented. The fully differential circuit is fabricated in the CMOS part of a 0.25-mum BiCMOS process, with standard 0.6-V V_T devices, and uses true low-voltage design techniques with no clock boosting and no voltage boosting. The T/H circuit has a measured current consumption of 600 muA     

A 64-bit carry look ahead adder using pass transistor BiCMOS gates

This paper describes a 64-bit two-stage carry look ahead adder utilizing pass transistor BiCMOS gate. The new pass transistor BiCMOS gate has a smaller intrinsic delay time than conventional BiCMOS gates. Furthermore, this gate has a rail-to-rail output voltage. Therefore the next gate does not have a large degradation of its driving capability. The exclusive OR and NOR gate using the pass transistor BiCMOS gate shows a speed advantage over CMOS gates under a wide variance in load capacitance. The pass transistor BiCMOS gates were applied to full adders, carry path circuits, and carry select circuits. In consequence, a 64-bit two-stage carry look ahead adder was fabricated using a 0.5 μm BiCMOS process with single polysilicon and double-metal interconnections. A critical path delay time of 3.5 ns was observed at a supply voltage of 3.3 V. This is 25% better than the result of the adder circuit using CMOS technology. Even at the supply voltage of 2.0 V, this adder is faster than the CMOS adder     

Full-swing BiCMOS logic circuits with complementaryemitter-follower driver configuration

Various full-swing BiCMOS logic circuits with complementary emitter-follower driver configurations are described. The performance of the circuits is demonstrated in a 1.2 μm complementary BiCMOS technology with a 6 GHz n-p-n and a 2 GHz p-n-p transistor. For the basic circuit, gate delay (fan-in=2, fan-out=1) is 366 ps and driving capability is 288 ps/pF at 4 V. Delay-power tradeoffs that depend on characteristics of the clamping diode between two base nodes of the complementary emitter-follower driver, parasitic capacitances at the two base nodes, and a technique that can be used to achieve full swing have been identified for these circuits. These circuits show leverage over the conventional BiCMOS circuit for reduced power-supply voltages