A 0.5-GHz CMOS digital RF memory chip

Digital RF memories (DRFM's) are key elements for modern radar jamming. An RF signal is sampled, stored in random access memory (RAM), and later recreated from the stored data. Here the first CMOS DRFM chip, integrating static RAM, control circuitry, and two channels of shift registers, on a single chip is described. The sample rate achieved was 0.5 GHz, VLSI density was made possible by the low-power dissipation of quiescent CMOS circuits. An 8K RAM prototype chip has been built and tested.