Multiplexer for Gigabit rates

摘要

Multiplexer for time-division multiplexing of four digital signals to form a Gigabit-rate output signal, which can easily be integrated due to its preferred construction using emitter followers. The multiplexer contains four signal transistors each with one emitter terminal and four clock transistors each with two emitter terminals which are connected in a specific way to the emitter terminals of the signal transistors and to the four emitter terminals of a fourfold multi-emitter transistor. The collector terminal of the fourfold multi-emitter transistor is connected to reference potential, whereas the base terminal represents the multiplexer output. This causes no reduction in switching speed due to the collector capacitance and furthermore enables simpler manufacture than a monolithically integrated circuit. <IMAGE>