Low voltage performance of an advanced CMOS/BiCMOS technology featuring 18 GHz bipolar fT and sub-70 ps CMOS gate delays

SABRe (submicron advanced BiCMOS research) is a CMOS/BiCMOS technology for digital VLSI applications. Issues of device isolation, bipolar vs. MOS characteristics, and the effect of lowering the supply voltage on the CMOS and BiCMOS gate delays are discussed for this technology which features deep submicron dimensions. The SABRe process achieves both vertical and lateral scaling through the use of ultra-thin epitaxy. The isolation characteristics and the MOS/bipolar transistor characteristics were evaluated as a function of their respective geometries and the supply voltage. In comparing CMOS and BiCMOS circuit performance vs. the supply voltage, the BiCMOS totem-pole inverter ring oscillators showed a speed advantage over CMOS only at larger fanout when the supply voltage was reduced.<>