A 5.3 pJ/Pulse Impulse-Radio Ultra-Wideband Pulse-Generator for Band Group # 6

A low-power on-off-keying impulse-radio (IR) ultra-wideband (UWB) pulse generator (PG) operating at band group # 6 is presented. It is intended for IR-UWB radio applications. The IR signal is generated by utilizing the propagation delay of a delay-line and shaping its output. An on-chip inductor is used to tune out the output parasitic capacitance, hence the power consumption is reduced. Successfully implemented in a TSMC 90 nm CMOS process, measurements results show an energy consumption of 53 pJ/pulse with a 1.2 V supply. The pulse width and -10-dB bandwidth are 890 ps and 1.8 GHz respectively. The core area is 0.082 mm(2).