A 3.3-V 21-Gb/s PRBS generator in AlGaAs/GaAs HBT technology

We present a pseudorandom bit sequence (PRBS) generator that outputs a 2⁷-1 bit pattern at rates up to 21 Gb/s. The circuit is implemented in a 40-GHz AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) standard production process, operates from a single 3.3-V power supply, and consumes 1.1 W of power. We discuss variations of PRBS architecture and digital circuit topologies which exploit unique characteristics of AlGaAs/GaAs HBT devices. The work demonstrates the feasibility of using AlGaAs/GaAs HBT technology with low-voltage/low-power design techniques in complex high-speed circuits     

AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor circuits with improved high-speed performance

Using a self-aligned base contact process and proton implantation to reduce extrinsic base-collector capacitance, we have improved the high-speed performance of AlGaAs/ GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor digital circuits. The cutoff frequency of the transistor fT with an emitter width of 2.0 ?m is 45 GHz. NTL ring oscillators have operated at 16.5 ps/gate and CML ring oscillators at 27.6 ps/gate. Frequency dividers (1/4) have operated up to 11 GHz with wafer-probe testing These are record speeds for bipolar circuits.     

Phase-noise behaviour of frequency dividers implemented with GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors

Near carrier phase-noise performance of GaAs microwave frequency dividers (4 GHz) is investigated. The divide-by-4 circuits are fabricated using heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology. The phase-noise behaviour of the HBT divider chips is correlated with transistor 1/f noise and is insensitive to bias current variations.     

InP DHBT器件与电路的研究进展

介绍了磷化铟(InP)基异质结双极晶体管制作技术的发展动向,对近几年InP双异质结双极晶体管(DHBT)的制作技术与电路的研究成果进行了归纳总结。介绍了InP DHBT在微波、超高速集成电路、微系统异质集成等领域的应用,以及InP DHBT应用于功率放大器、倍频器、太赫兹单片电路、数模转换器等取得的进展,显示出InP DHBT在高频、高速和微系统集成三个方面的巨大应用价值。     

40GHz InGaAs/InP CML 结构静态分频器

Static frequency dividers are widely used as a circuit performance benchmark or figure-of-merit indicator to gauge a particular device technology's ability to implement high speed digital and integrated high performance mixed-signal circuits.We report a 2:1 static frequency divider in InGaAs/InP heterojunction bipolar transistor technology.This is the first InP based digital integrated circuit ever reported on the mainland of China. The divider is implemented in differential current mode logic(CML) with ...     

GaAs HBT's for microwave integrated circuits

The status of the microwave GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology is reviewed. Microwave circuits for advanced military and commercial systems continue to increase their dependence on the performance, functionality, and cost of active components fabricated using solid-state technology. The performance advantages provided by GaAs HBT's, for several critical circuit applications, have stimulated a worldwide development activity. Progress in HBT device technology and microwave circuit applications has been extremely rapid because of the broad availability of III-V compound semiconductor epitaxial materials and prior experience with GaAs field-effect transistors (FET's) and monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC's). The great flexibility of HBT's in microwave circuits makes them prime candidates for applications in complex multifunctional microwave/digital IC's in next-generation systems     

An InGaAs/InP 40 GHz CML static frequency divider

Static frequency dividers are widely used as a circuit performance benchmark or figure-of-merit indicator to gauge a particular device technology’s ability to implement high speed digital and integrated high performance mixed-signal circuits.We report a 2:1 static frequency divider in InGaAs/InP heterojunction bipolar transistor technology.This is the first InP based digital integrated circuit ever reported on the mainland of China. The divider is implemented in differential current mode logic(CML) with 30 transistors.The circuit operated at a peak clock frequency of 40 GHz and dissipated 650 mW from a single -5 V supply.     

GaAs-based heterojunction bipolar transistors for very highperformance electronic circuits

This paper reviews the principles and status of AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor technology. Comparisons of this technology with Si bipolar transistor and GaAs field-effect transistor technologies are made. Epitaxial materials, fabrication processes, transistor DC and RF characteristics, and modeling of AlGaAs/GaAs HBT's are described. Key areas of HBT application are also highlighted     

The design of radiation-hardened ICs for space: a compendium ofapproaches

Several technologies, including bulk and epi CMOS, CMOS/SOI-SOS (silicon-on-insulator-silicon-on-sapphire), CML (current-mode logic), ECL (emitter-coupled logic), analog bipolar (JI, single-poly DI, and SOI) and GaAs E/D (enhancement/depletion) heterojunction MESFET, are discussed. The discussion includes the direct effects of space radiation on microelectronic materials and devices, how these effects are evidenced in circuit and device design parameter variations, the particular effects of most significance to each functional class of circuit, specific techniques for hardening high-speed circuits, design examples for integrated systems, including operational amplifiers and A/D (analog/digital) converters, and the computer simulation of radiation effects on microelectronic ICs     

Advancements in bipolar VLSI circuits and technologies

Due to their inherent speed advantage over FETs, bipolar circuits are widely used for high-performance masterslice and custom logic and for high-speed static memory arrays. For logic, traditional circuits such as transistor-transistor logic and emitter-coupled logic are still mostly used, but new circuit technologies such as integrated injection logic or merged transistor logic and Schottky transistor logic or integrated Schottky logic have been devised to manage the VLSI technology constraints. For high-speed memory applications such as caches, local stores, or registers, conventional memory cells are increasingly being replaced by more advanced memory devices allowing higher bit densities and lower power dissipation. Significant progress can be expected through technology extensions such as dielectric isolation, multilayer metallization, and polysilicon techniques, in addition to shrinking the devices to 1 /spl mu/m dimensions or below.     

12.5 Gbps 1:16 DEMUX IC with high speed synchronizing circuits

A 12.5 Gbps 1:16 demultiplexer(DEMUX) integrated circuit is presented for multi-channel high-speed data transmission.A novel high-speed synchronizing technique is proposed and integrated in this DEMUX chip. Compared with conventional synchronizing techniques,the proposed method largely simplifies the system configuration. The experimental result demonstrates that the proposed circuit is effective in two-channel synchronization under a clock frequency of 12.5 GHz.The circuit is realized using 1μm GaAs heteroj unction bipolar transistor technology with die area of 2.3×2.3 mm~2.     

Silicon bipolar chipset for SONET/SDH 10 Gb/s fiber-opticcommunication links

High-speed multiplexers, demultiplexers, frequency dividers, mixers, and amplifiers are key electronic components in high-speed fiber-optic communications systems such as SONET/SDH. In this paper, we present several important digital and analog integrated circuits (IC) which have been developed for use in SONET/SDH 10 Gb/s optical communication links. The circuits have been fabricated in MOSAIC 5E, an advanced silicon bipolar technology (f_T=26 GHz). The resulting chipset which amounts to a total of 10 IC's consists of multiplexers, demultiplexers, a regenerative frequency divider (2:1), a dual output limiting amplifier, and two different types of mixers for clock extraction. Specifically, the design and performance of these IC's and a hybrid clock recovery module are discussed. The high performance and potential low cost of this research chipset show that advanced silicon bipolar circuit technology can play an important role in future multigigabit fiber-optic communication systems     

The development of heterojunction integrated injection logic

The development of heterojunction integrated injection logic (HI ²L) since 1982 is described. The baseline process that uses AlGaAs/GaAs emitter-down HBTs (heterojunction bipolar transistors) as the switching element is presented. Two sets of design rules, one using a 7.0-μm collector and 8.0-μm metal pitch and another using a 5.0-μm collector and 5.0-μm metal pitch, have been developed for the pilot line circuit fabrication. Typical propagation delays obtained for a fan-out=4 HI²L gate using the 7.0- and 5.0-μm collector processes are 250 and 150 ps, respectively, at a power dissipation of 5 mW per gate. LSI and VLSI circuits as complex as 4 K-gate arrays and 32-bit MIPS microprocessors have been fabricated successfully using the HI²L technology     

Balanced Colpitt oscillator MMICs designed for ultra-low phase noise

Balanced voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) based on a coupled Colpitt topology with a fully integrated tank are presented utilizing SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) and InGaP/GaAs HBT technologies. Minimum phase noise is obtained for all designs by optimization of the tank circuit including the varactor, maximizing the tank amplitude, and designing the VCO for Class C operation. Fundamental and second harmonic VCOs are evaluated. A minimum phase noise of less than -112 dBc at an output power of 5.5 dBm is achieved at 100-kHz carrier offset and 6.4-GHz oscillation frequency for the fundamental InGaP/GaAs HBT VCO. The second harmonic VCO achieves a minimum measured phase noise of -120 dBc at 100 kHz at 13 GHz. To our best knowledge, this is the lowest reported phase noise to date for a varactor-based VCO with a fully integrated tank. The fundamental frequency SiGe HBT oscillator achieves a phase noise of -108 dBc at 100 kHz at 5 GHz. All MMICs are fabricated in commercial foundry MMIC processes.     

16 Gbit/s multiplexer IC using double mesa Si/SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors

A double mesa Si/SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) was developed for application in integrated circuits. The HBT is characterised by an emitter base heterojunction and consequently by a high base doping concentration. By using these transistors an integrated digital circuit, a multiplexer, was implemented. The measured bit rate of this first Si/SiGe HBT circuit was 16 Gbit/s.<>     

Low-power low-noise active mixers for 5.7 and 11.2 GHz usingcommercially available SiGe HBT MMIC technology

The authors demonstrate the application of a commercially available SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor monolithic microwave integrated circuit technology to active mixers in future communication systems at 5.7 GHz and above. This technology can be used to realise circuits with less than 50 mW power consumption, conversion gains above 15 dB and small double sideband noise figures of 3.6 and 9.4 dB for 5.7 and 11.2 GHz Gilbert cell mixer circuits, respectively     

Making GaAs integrated circuits

Digital gallium arsenide (GaAs) integrated circuits offer prospects for high-performance electronics, particularly for increased speed and radiation hardness. Prototype GaAs devices fabricated in technologies ranging from ion-implanted metal semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs) and junction field-effect transistors (JFETs) to epitaxial heterostructures, such as high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) and heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs), have demonstrated these advantages. While these GaAs technologies share many common fabrication features, the unique characteristics of each and GaAs materials present significant manufacturing challenges. It is argues that to produce real integrated circuits (ICs) for system applications, the disciplines and rigors of a production environment as well as the innovations of research and development are required     

Double heterojunction GaAlAs/GaAs I/sup 2/L integrated circuits

The fabrication and DC characterisation of GaAlAs/GaAs double heterojunction bipolar transistors (DHBTs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy are described. This baseline process has been developed for the implementation of heterojunction integrated injection logic (HI/sup 2/L) integrated circuits. Results concerning an I/sup 2/L ring oscillator and a divide-by-two circuit are given.<>     

An experimental study on substrate coupling in bipolar/BiCMOS technologies

The parasitic influence of the substrate can lead to a significant performance degradation of advanced high-speed and RF circuits. Hence, a careful circuit layout is necessary, and shielding measures such as guard rings must usually be applied. However, this might not be sufficient for high-performance circuits. Moreover, such measures often lead to an increased chip size. Therefore, not only the layout but also the technology itself should be optimized to suppress substrate coupling as much as possible. In this work, different technology-related options such as high-resistivity and SOI substrates, transistor isolation techniques, and shielding methods are investigated. Their influence on substrate coupling is determined up to 50 GHz by measurements of special test structures. The observed behavior is thoroughly explained so that guidelines for technology development and circuit design can be derived. This paper focuses primarily on RF and high-speed ICs fabricated in advanced bipolar or BiCMOS technologies using p/sup -/ substrates, although the results apply also to (RF-)CMOS circuits with such substrate materials.     

Ultrahigh-speed heterojunction bipolar transistormultiplexer/demultiplexer ICs

High-speed 2-b monolithic integrated multiplexer (MUX) and demultiplexer (DMUX) circuits have been developed using self-aligned AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) with improved high-speed performance. Both ICs were designed using emitter-coupled logic. The 2:1 MUX was composed of a D-type flip-flop (D-FF) merging a selector gate and a T-type flip-flop (T-FF). The 1:2 DMUX consisted of two D-FFs driven at a clock of half the rate of the input data. Error-free operation with a pseudorandom pattern was confirmed up to 10 Gb/s. The rise and fall times of the output signals of both ICs were 40 and 25 ps, respectively. HBT frequency dividers were used as inputs for both ICs in order to find the maximum operation speed. Although only a few test patterns were available, the maximum operation speeds of the MUX and DMUX were found to be around 15 and 19 Gb/s, respectively