CMOS Pulse Generator Research Articles

Broadband tunable integrated CMOS pulser with 80-ps minimum pulse width for gain-switched semiconductor lasers

High power pulsed lasers with tunable pulse widths are highly favored in many applications. When combined with power amplification, gain-switched semiconductor lasers driven by broadband tunable electric pulsers can meet such requirements. For this reason, we designed and produced a low-cost integrated CMOS pulse generator with a minimum pulse width of 80 ps and a wide tuning range of up to 270 ns using a 40-nm microelectronic process technique. We used this pulser to drive a 1.3-µm semiconductor laser diode directly, and thereafter investigated the gain-switching properties of the laser system. The optical pulses consist of a spike followed by a steady state region. Tuning the width of the electrical pulse down to approximately 1.5 ns produces optical pulses consisting only of the spike, which has a minimum pulse-width of 100 ps. Moreover, the duration of the steady state can be tuned continuously by tuning the electrical pulse width, with a peak power of approximately 5 mW. The output voltage of the electric pulser has a tuning range of 0.8–1.5 V that can be used to directly drive semiconductor laser diodes with wavelengths in the near-infrared spectrum, which are suitable for power amplification with rare-earth doped fiber amplifiers.

An Investigation of Total Ionizing Dose Damage on a Pulse Generator Intended for Space-Based Impulse Radio UWB Transceivers

We investigate, for the first time, the effects of total ionizing dose (TID) on a CMOS pulse generator implemented in a SiGe BiCMOS platform, and which is intended for use in space-based impulse radio ultra-wideband transceivers. The pulse generator was fabricated in Jazz Semiconductor's SBC18-H3 SiGe BiCMOS process technology, which combines 250 GHz SiGe HBTs and 180 nm CMOS. Total dose effects were examined using a 10-keV X-ray source. The effects of the TID on the performance of the pulse generator were investigated and a compensation scheme for mitigating these radiation effects is proposed.

CMOS pulse generator based on spectral efficiently gated oscillator for UWB impulse radio

CMOS pulse generator based on spectral efficiently gated oscillator for UWB impulse radio

Short Pulse Generation With On-Chip Pulse-Forming Lines

We report our results on pulse-forming-line (PFL)-based CMOS pulse generator studies. Through simulations, we clarify the effects of PFL length, switch speed, and switch resistance on the output pulses. We model and analyze CMOS pulse generators with on-chip transmission lines (TLs) as PFLs and CMOS transistors as switches. In a 0.13- μm CMOS process with a 500- μm long PFL, post-layout simulations show that pulses of 10.4-ps width can be obtained. High-voltage and high-power outputs can be generated with other pulsed power circuits, such as Blumlein PFLs with stacked MOSFET switches. Thus, the PFL circuit significantly extends short and high-power pulse generation capabilities of CMOS technologies. A CMOS circuit with a 4-mm-long PFL is implemented in the commercial 0.13- μm technology. Pulses of ~116-ps duration and 205-300-mV amplitude on a 50-Ω load are obtained when the power supply is tuned from 1.2 to 1.6 V. Measurement connection setup is the main reason for the discrepancies among measurements, modeling, and simulation analyses.

A Low Power Frequency Synthesizer for 60-GHz Wireless Personal Area Networks

In this brief, a 60-GHz frequency synthesizer for wireless personal area networks is designed using 0.13- μm CMOS technology. The synthesizer operates at 60 GHz with phase noises of -98, -117, and -128 dBc/Hz at 1-, 10-, and 40-MHz frequency offsets, respectively. The 60-GHz clock is generated by combining a phase-locked loop (PLL) and an injection-locked oscillator. The PLL provides frequency tuning of the 60-GHz voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) using replica tuning. A pulse train is generated using a novel passive delay-locked loop and a CMOS pulse generator. This pulse train is then used for filtering the phase noise of 60-GHz VCO up to a high offset frequency. The total power consumption of the frequency synthesizer is 57 mW with a 1.2-V power supply.

A Fully Differential Digital CMOS UWB Pulse Generator

A new fully digital CMOS pulse generator for impulse radio ultra-wideband (UWB) systems is presented. First, the shape of the pulse which best fits the FCC regulation in the 3.1---5 GHz sub-band of the entire 3.1---10.6 GHz UWB bandwidth is derived and approximated using rectangular digital pulses. In particular, the number and the width of pulses that approximate an ideal template are found through an ad hoc optimization methodology. Then a fully differential digital CMOS circuit that synthesizes the pulse sequence is conceived and its functionality demonstrated through post-layout simulations. The results show a very good agreement with the FCC requirements and a low power consumption.

High-Order Monocycle Design and Its Waveform-Generating Circuit for UWB Communications

Ultra-wide-band (UWB) technology can provide data throughput rate at gigabit per second. UWB also shows promising potentials for use in short-range indoor wireless communications and outdoor ad hoc networking. Adopting ultra-short impulses in UWB transmission, however, make systems vulnerable to timing jitter. To overcome this challenge, we propose a time-hopping high- order waveform modulation scheme in this paper. Central to our design is the adaptation of a high-order monocycle (HOM), which provides timing-jitter robust UWB communications. We present a CMOS pulse generator circuit to produce the HOM monocycle. We also use 0.18-mum CMOS technology with 1.8-V power supply to simulate the monocycle generator design using the Cadence software. The simulation results show that our generated waveform meets the UWB communication and the FCC requirements. Our modulation scheme outperforms other systems using traditional monocycles in terms of timing-jitter robustness.

60 GHz CMOS pulse generator

A 60 GHz CMOS pulse generator (PG) is presented for the wireless transmission of uncompressed HDTV data, and is realised by only CMOS transistors. The CMOS PG was fabricated using a 90 nm CMOS process with nine metal layers. A carrier frequency of 62.5 GHz was obtained at a supply voltage of 1.15 V with an output power of −25 dBm. The power consumption was 11.5 mW at 1.5 GHz input frequency.

Low-cost CMOS pulse generator for UWB systems

The design of a CMOS ultra-wideband (UWB) pulse generator for impulse radio system transmission in the 3.1–10.6 GHz frequency band is presented. The pulse generator uses an elementary pulse combiner, which appears to be well suited to tune the synthesised pulse. The generator is designed with no inductors or external filter in order to reduce the die area and the production cost. Simulations with a standard 0.13 µm CMOS design kit show a 600 mVpp pulse that satisfies the FCC regulation mask and a power consumption of 2.64 mW with a 100 MHz pulse repetition frequency.

On the Development of an Integrated CMOS-Based UWB Tunable-Pulse Transmit Module

A novel low-cost low-power fully integrated tunable transmit module composed of a tunable CMOS monocycle pulse generator and compact uniplanar antenna was designed, built, and tested for ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse systems. The CMOS tunable pulse generator integrates a tuning delay circuit, square-wave generator, impulse-forming circuit, and pulse-shaping circuit in a single chip using a standard low-cost 0.25-mum CMOS process. It can generate a monocycle pulse and Gaussian-type impulse (without the pulse-shaping circuitry) signals with tunable pulse duration. A compact uniplanar UWB antenna was also developed and integrated directly with the CMOS pulse generator chip to form the complete integrated tunable UWB transmit module. Measured results show that the CMOS tunable pulse generator can produce a 0.3-0.6-V peak-to-peak monocycle pulse with 140-350-ps tunable pulse duration and a 0.5-1.3-V peak-to-peak impulse signal with 100-300-ps tunable pulse-duration, and the uniplanar antenna has less than a 18-dB return loss and is suitable for transmitting/receiving UWB time-domain impulse signals covering the entire UWB bandwidth of 3.1-10.6 GHz. Good agreement between measured and calculated performance is also achieved. The UWB transmit module was experimentally characterized and its performance is verified. This UWB module finds applications in various time-domain UWB systems including wireless communications and radar

All-digital low-power CMOS pulse generator for UWB system

An all-digital CMOS ultra-wideband (UWB) pulse generator which complies with FCC regulations is presented. The proposed pulse generator generates a single UWB pulse satisfying FCC regulations without any filtering. The average power consumption of the whole circuit is 15.4 mW and 675 /spl mu/W at the pulse repetition frequency of 500 and 1 MHz, respectively.