Integrated RS flip-flop circuit

Claim 1

In an integrated RS flip-flop circuit of the type in which a pair of cross-coupled inverters respectively comprise a resistor element and a field effect transistor having a gate and a source-drain segment connected in series with the resistor element between a supply terminal and a reference terminal, in which each field effect transistor has a gate cross-connected to the junction of the other field effect transistor and its series-connected resistor element, and in which a pair of switching elements are respectively connected to the field effect transistors and include control inputs constituting an R input and an S input, the improvement wherein: each of said switching elements comprises a tunnel emission hot electron transistor comprising a base, an emitter, and a collector; each of said field effect transistors comprises a doped semiconductor body of a first conductivity type including a boundary surface and being connected to a reference potential, a pair of doped first regions of a second conductivity type opposite said first conductivity type spaced apart and extending from said boundary surface into said body and defining a channel region in said body therebetween and constituting a source and a drain, an insulator carried on said boundary surface over said channel region, and a gate layer structure provided on said insulator; and each of said hot electron transistors comprises an inversion layer in said channel abutting one of said first regions and constituting said emitter, a conductive layer carried on said insulator extending over said emitter and constituting said base, and a portion of said gate layer structure extending over said base and constituting said collector.