Characterization of heterostructure complementary MISFET circuits employing the new gate current model

A complementary logic circuit employing heterostructure MISFET's is shown to have a larger logic swing and noise margin than an E/D MESFET logic circuit. The noise margin is calculated using a new gate current model that is derived by taking into account the small surface potential dependence on the gate voltage at the heterointerface. The circuit simulation indicates that, for multi-input logic gates, a NAND gate configuration is superior to a NOR gate configuration from the viewpoints of noise margin and switching speed. The normalized high- and low-level noise margins are comparatively balanced (34 and 49 percent) for a three-input NAND gate. For a fan-in/fan-out of 3/3 and a 100-fF wiring capacitance condition, a 54-ps delay time and 57-μW power dissipation/gate at a 100-MHz clock frequency are possible for a NAND gate with 0.5-μm gate-length MISFET's at 77 K.