A monolithic 8 pJ/2 GHz logic family

Discusses a monolithic logic family developed for high-speed communication systems usage. The logic family affords 8 pJ speed-power product, 2 GHz toggle frequency and 400 ps/gate propagation delay time in 50/spl Omega/ transmission systems. The primary factor for realizing the high-speed, low-power operation is new circuit configuration: modified nonthreshold logic (NTL). Transistors in this circuit are made to operate almost in the active region which increases switching speed. In addition, a novel master slave flip-flop configuration is designed to operate with propagation delay nearly equal to that of gate. The device was fabricated by using junction isolated transistors with an emitter stripe width of 2 /spl mu/ and cutoff frequency of 4 GHz. This paper describes the circuit design and performance of developed logic family.