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 mum CMOS design kit show a 600 mV_pp pulse that satisfies the FCC regulation mask and a power consumption of 2.64 mW with a 100 MHz pulse repetition frequency.