53 GHz static frequency divider in a Si/SiGe bipolar technology

High-speed static frequency divider ICs are critical functional blocks in a variety of applications, ranging from RF instrumentation to broadband optical fiber communication systems. For these systems maximum speed is mandatory, while power consumption is not a limiting factor. To date, impressive results have been achieved with realizations in different technologies: 66 GHz with InAlAs/InGaAs transferred-substrate HBTs and 50 GHz with SiGe bipolar HBTs. These measurements have been been performed on-wafer. The best published value for a mounted static frequency divider, fabricated in an InAlAs/InGaAs/InP HEMT technology, is 45.2 GHz. On-wafer measurements of frequency dividers are considered as a benchmark for evaluating the speed performance of IC technologies, while measurement results on mounted chips are interesting from the application point of view. Both types of results are presented here.