Pulse-forming-line based on-chip short pulse generator

Abstract

A traditional pulse generation circuit based on the pulse-forming-line (PFL) is implemented in a commercial 0.13 μm digital CMOS technology. A meandered on-chip coplanar waveguide is used as the PFL, and CMOS transistor is used as switch in the Cadence Spectre simulation. The circuit sample is fabricated and tested. Pulses of ∼170 ps durations and 120-200 mV amplitudes are obtained when the power supply is tuned from 1.2 V to 2 V. The results show that the traditional PFL based circuit can be implemented in standard CMOS technology for on-chip short pulse generation. Furthermore, the PFL circuits significantly extend the short pulse generation capabilities of CMOS technology.