A programmable 1.8pJ/pulse Gaussian pulse generator for impulse UWB transceiver in 90nm CMOS

Abstract

We report an ultra-low-power low-cost Gaussian pulse generator for 3.1–10.6GHz impulse-radio carrier-free ultra wideband (UWB) transceiver designed and fabricated in foundry logic 90nm CMOS. A two-stage circuit topology is used to generate square waveform and Gaussian pulse waveform, respectively. Three digital controls are used to adjust delay time between the two generated square waves to realize tunable Gaussian pulse width. Measurement shows programmable Gaussian pulse width ranging from the lowest 150ps to 350ps, capable of supporting up to 6Gbps data rate for wireless video streaming. It achieves the lowest reported power consumption of merely 1.8pJ/pulse with a 100MHz pulse repeating frequency (PRF) at 1V supply voltage.