Fabrication, RE performance, and yield of a combined limiting amplifier and dual-modulus prescalar GaAs IC chip

Abstract
Production technology details, RF performance, and yield results for an ECL-compatible, L-band, limiting dual-modulus (/10/11) prescalar are presented. Monolithic integration of analog and digital circuit functions is achieved using refractory self-aligned-gate FET technology. When tested with -22-dBm input signal power, one lot of six wafers had a total RF chip yield of 19% with a best-wafer yield of 43%. The average operating frequency was 1.45 GHz (SD=51 MHz) with an average power dissipation of 696 mW (SD=23 mW).