complementary metal oxide semiconductor (Chip) (CMOS)
Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) is a semiconductor technology for chips, microprocessors and also discrete devices, which is characterized by low power consumption and short switching times. It is based on complementary metal oxide semiconductors, on the combination of NMOS with a negative charge excess and PMOS with a positive charge excess.
Because of its low power consumption, CMOS technology is used in random access memories( RAM), among other applications. RAM memories are powered by accumulators, which act as energy storage devices and store data even when the supply voltage is switched off. The power values are a few nanowatts (nW) per gate. In addition, CMOS technology can be used over a wide operating voltage range, from 3 V to 15 V, typically 5 V. Since the logic level for logic "1" is not detected until 3 V, direct coupling ofTTL logic and CMOS technologies is not possible.
Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) is very sensitive to electrostatic discharges. This is due to the fact that field effect transistors( FET) are used in the input circuits, which makes the input resistance very high. The inputs and outputs should therefore always be connected to a reference potential, preferably ground.
The combination with bipolar technology is called BiCMOS and is characterized by high data rates and high drive currents of 48 mA and 64 mA. BiCMOS logic is used in bus applications. The trend towards components with lower power consumption is met by Low Voltage CMOS (LVCMOS), which operates with an operating voltage of 3.0 V to 3.6 V. This means less current and thus less power consumption. This means less current and thus less energy consumption.