A pulse generator using Pulse Amplitude Modulation for IR-UWB in 130nm CMOS process

Abstract

The pulse generator circuit it is an essential block to Impulse Radio Ultra-Wideband (IR-UWB) transmitters, and must be studied to improve UWB system applications, such as radars and data transmissions in very high frequencies. This paper presents a compact pulse generator Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM) circuit, in 130 nm CMOS technology, generating a logic level pulse with eight oscillations per pulse. The circuit design uses one charge pump per oscillation, current mirror circuits controlling amplitude oscillations at the output, and delaycells controlling edge combiner circuits. The circuit has been simulated using LTSpice showing an output pulse amplitude of ~100 mV/-32 dBm for logic level 1, and an amplitude of ~55 mV/-42 dBm for logic level 0, both at 100 MHz Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) producing a mean pulses duration of ~150 ps and central frequency of ~6.8 GHz. The full block of the pulse generator occupies an area of 1674 μm2.