SiGe HBT CML Ring Oscillator With 2.3-ps Gate Delay at Cryogenic Temperatures

Author

Yuan, Jiahui ; Moen, Kurt A. ; Cressler, John D. ; Rucker, Holger ; Heinemann, Bernd ; Winkler, Wolfgang

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA

Volume

57

Issue

5

fYear

2010

fDate

5/1/2010 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1183

Lastpage

1187

Abstract

We present a measured current-mode logic ring oscillator gate delay of 2.3 ps, a record for digital circuits in silicon-based technologies. This result was achieved in a silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology operating at 25 K. In addition to higher cutoff frequency and lower collector-base capacitance, lower base resistance is also responsible for the improved switching speed at cryogenic temperatures. The self-heating characteristics of these SiGe HBT circuits are also investigated across temperatures.

Keywords

Ge-Si alloys; cryogenic electronics; current-mode logic; heterojunction bipolar transistors; oscillators; semiconductor materials; SiGe; collector-base capacitance; cryogenic temperatures; current-mode logic ring oscillator gate delay; lower base resistance; self-heating characteristics; silicon-based technologies; silicon-germanium heterojunction bipolar transistor; temperature 25 K; time 2.3 ps; Cryogenics; Current measurement; Delay; Electrical resistance measurement; Germanium silicon alloys; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Logic gates; Ring oscillators; Silicon germanium; Temperature; Cryogenic temperatures; SiGe HBTs; heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT); ring oscillator; silicon–germanium (SiGe);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TED.2010.2042769

Filename

5422771