A programmable 1.8pJ/pulse Gaussian pulse generator for impulse UWB transceiver in 90nm CMOS

We report an ultra-low-power low-cost Gaussian pulse generator for 3.1-10.6 GHz impulse-radio carrier-free ultra wideband (UWB) transceiver designed and fabricated in foundry logic 90 nm CMOS. A two-stage circuit topology is used to generate square waveform and Gaussian pulse waveform, respectively. Three digital controls are used to adjust delay time between the two generated square waves to realize tunable Gaussian pulse width. Measurement shows programmable Gaussian pulse width ranging from the lowest 150 ps to 350 ps, capable of supporting up to 6 Gbps data rate for wireless video streaming. It achieves the lowest reported power consumption of merely 1.8 pJ/pulse with a ₁₀₀ MHz pulse repeating frequency (PRF) at 1 V supply voltage.