Gate-length dependence of the speed of SSI circuits using submicrometer selectively doped heterostructure transistor technology

Abstract

Frequency dividers and ring oscillators have been fabricated with submicrometer gates on selectively doped AIGaAs/GaAs heterostructure wafers. A divide-by-two frequency divider operated up to 9.15 GHz at room temperature, dissipating 25 mW for the whole circuit at a bias voltage of 1.6 V, with gate length ∼ 0.35 µm. A record propagation delay of 5.8 ps/gate was measured for a 0.35-µm gate 19- stage ring oscillator at 77 K, with a power of 1.76 mW/gate, and a bias voltage of 0.88 V. The maximum switching speed at room temperature was 10.2 ps/gate at 1.03 mW/gate and 0.8 V bias, for a ring oscillator with the same gate length. With a range of gate lengths on the same wafer fabricated by electron-beam lithography, a clear demonstration of gate-length dependence on the propagation delay was observed for both dividers and ring oscillators.