The performance of high speed digital integrated circuits, defined here as those requiring operation at high clock frequency, is generally more sensitive to material properties and process techniques than ICs used at lower frequencies. Obtaining high speed and low power concurrently is especially challenging. Circuit architectures must be selected for the device and application appropriately. This paper presents simple models for high speed digital IC performance and applies these to the FET and bipolar transistor. Heterojunction devices are compared with those using single or binary materials. Circuits for high speed SSI and low power VLSI applications are described, and their performance is surveyed.
