A novel prescaler for silicon bipolar multi-Gigahertz applications

Author

Copani, Tino ; Smerzi, Santo A. ; Palmisano, Giuseppe

Author_Institution

Facolta di Ingegneria, Catania Univ., Italy

fYear

2004

fDate

6-8 June 2004

Firstpage

595

Lastpage

598

Abstract

High-speed prescalers are critical blocks when designing circuits for multi-GHz applications as well as for new optical-fiber networks. In this paper, an enhancement technique is shown for Si-bipolar E²CL dividers. The proposed circuit allows high-speed operation despite a low supply voltage while it avoids using emitter followers which could lead to dangerous unwanted oscillations. A divide-by-8 prescaler was fabricated in a 46-GHz-f_T Si-bipolar technology to work within a 10-GHz output frequency PLL. Measurements show the circuit works reliably up to 12 GHz and can still operate at 11 GHz with a supply voltage as low as 2.7 V.

Keywords

MMIC frequency convertors; bipolar integrated circuits; emitter-coupled logic; frequency dividers; low-power electronics; prescalers; 10 GHz; 11 GHz; 12 GHz; 2.7 V; 46 GHz; E²CL dividers; PLL; Si; bipolar digital divider; emitter coupled logic; flip-flops; frequency synthesizers; high-speed prescalers; low supply voltage; microwave frequency conversion; optical-fiber networks; phase locked loops; CMOS technology; Circuits; Digital video broadcasting; Electronic mail; Flip-flops; Frequency conversion; Frequency synthesizers; Optical design; Phase locked loops; Silicon;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Symposium, 2004. Digest of Papers. 2004 IEEE

ISSN

1529-2517

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8333-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RFIC.2004.1320691

Filename

1320691