A new BiCMOS increased full-swing converter for low-internal-voltage ULSI systems

In this work, a new BiCMOS increased full-swing inverter (IFSI) and a new BiCMOS increased full-swing buffer (IFSB) for low voltage/low power ULSI systems are proposed. Based on the SPICE simulations, we demonstrate that these circuits can operate at low internal voltage (V/sub int/) and have low input signal swing. With V/sub int/>|V/sub t/| (assuming V/sub tn/=-V/sub tp/), the circuits work properly. When the capacitor load is larger than 0.6 pf, the propagation delays and the delay power products of the proposed circuits for different internal voltages are better than those of previous circuits under the same circuit design parameters. Moreover, the proposed circuits achieve significant improvement in speed and noise margin. The results given here can avoid the trial and error step in the circuit sizing operation to reduce the power consumption.