A low-power static frequency divider circuit in bipolar technology

A low-power silicon bipolar frequency divider circuit using AC-coupled active pull-down emitter-coupled-logic (ECL)-like circuitry is described. The divide-by-eight circuit consists of three identical divide-by-two modules in cascade. The clock is brought in through an emitter-follower, and the output of the divider is buffered through an emitter-follower output stage. The divide-by-two module consists of a pair of master-slave flip-flops. A maximum clocking frequency of 2.5 GHz at a record low power of 1.7 mW per flip-flop has been realized. The performance can be extended to 6 GHz at 5 mW per flip-flop.<>