Technology circuit achieves record speed

A team led by the UK's BAE Systems aerospace and defence group has just achieved a record digital circuit speed as a result of developing next-generation transistor technology.

The team - made up of experts from BAE, the Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation and the University of Illinois in the United States - claim that their technology improves speed, integration density and power consumption for solid-state integrated circuits. It recently demonstrated a circuit with a clock frequency of 152GHz and which is an industry record for static frequency divider circuits.

The transistor was developed under a contract given to BAE in 2002 by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The agency's program manager, Dr John Zolper, commented: "The demonstration of a 152 GHz static divider is a key milestone in developing circuit technology for establishing a new class of high-performance mixed-signal circuits for the Department of Defense."

BAE says the DARPA program seeks to significantly improve micro-circuit performance and at the same time lower power consumption. A spokesman added: "Higher performance at lower power in more highly integrated packages will benefit systems where limited weight and power requirements are crucial."

The technology development manager of BAE Systems, Frank Strolli, said: "This is another piece to the technology puzzle that will be used to develop the next-generation of miniature digital receivers and exciters that are needed for future strike, surveillance and electronic attack missions. For example, this technology will enable the development of subsystems such as low cost in-combat programmable electronic warfare jammers, expendable surveillance sensors and frequency agile software radios for secure communications."

Using the Vitesse Corporation's semiconductor process, BAE Systems engineers designed the high-speed divider circuit and achieved the record-breaking 152 GHz static operation. Aaron Penkacik, BAE Systems' vice-president of advanced systems and technology, said of the development: "This accomplishment is both a significant technology breakthrough and an example of a successful partnership among DARPA, Tri-Services, industry and academia."