A low-power SiGe impulse radio-UWB transmitter with biphase modulation function

Abstract

In this paper a compact and low-power IR-UWB transmitter is presented. The transmitter is based on a cross-coupled LC oscillator core which is transiently turned on and off by current spikes generated on-chip. A simple phase control circuit enables biphase modulation by controlling the start-up phase condition of the oscillator. The UWB transmitter has a low power consumption of 9.8 mW when biphase modulated with a 200 MHz impulse sequence. The transmitter IC occupies an area of 0.3 mm2 including bond pads.