Design and investigation of a very wide dynamic microwave electronic counter entirely intergrated using traditional MOSFET technology (/spl sim/1E4 Hz to 1E11 Hz)

Abstract

The paper presents a new MOSFET IC frequency to frequency converter (FFC) which can measure frequency, period, frequency ratio, time interval, event counting, rise and fall time, pulse width, duty cycle and statistical information (repeating mode, software, storage memory). The proposed FFC is based on a new technique of operation comprising transformation from high (upper microwave frequencies) to appropriate easily measurable frequencies (/spl sim/1 Hz to 1 E6 Hz) with excellent resolution (/spl sim/0.1 ppm). It uses a very low level current to frequency converter (CFC) operating in its exponential mode. The FFC is entirely integrated using the standard 2 /spl mu/m MOSFET technology.