The effect of downward gain on the maximum toggle frequency of I/sup 2/L, linear compatible flip-flops

Data are presented that show toggle rate versus minimum gate current for an I/SUP 2/L, linear compatible bipolar integrated circuit. The maximum toggle rate for a given gate current is dependent upon h/SUB FE/, verifying previous results using inverter chains. At relatively high gate currents, this dependency is seen to vary as approximately (h/SUB FE/)/SUP 1/2/. Deep emitter (super-gain) processing techniques were used to obtain toggle rates up to 12 MHz for conservative gate designs.