A 9-pJ/Pulse 1.42-Vpp OOK CMOS UWB Pulse Generator for the 3.1-10.6-GHz FCC Band

This paper presents the design of a fully integrated ultra-wideband (UWB) pulse generator for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 3.1-10.6-GHz band. This generator is reserved for medium rate applications and achieves pulses for an on-off keying (OOK) modulation, pulse position modulation, or pulse interval modulation. This UWB transmitter is based on the impulse response filter method, which uses an edge combiner in order to excite an integrated bandpass filter. The circuit has been integrated in an ST-Microelectronics CMOS 0.13-mu m technology with 1.2-V supply voltage and the die size is 0.54 mm(2). The pulse generator power consumption is 9 pJ per pulse and achieves a peak to peak magnitude of 1.42 V. The pulse is FCC compliant and the generator can be used with a rate up to 38 Mbs(-1) with an OOK modulation. Based on the FCC power spectral density limitation, a sizing method is also presented.