An IEEE 802.15.4z-Compliant Reconfigurable Pulse-Shaping UWB Digital Power Amplifier in 28-nm CMOS

作者：Chen, Hua^*; Chen, Zhenqi; Ou, Rongde; Chen, Run; Wu, Zhaohui; Li, Bin

来源：IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2023.

DOI：10.1109/TMTT.2023.3263898

• Index Terms-Delay line
• digital power amplifier (DPA)
• IEEE 802.15.4z
• impedance matching
• impulse radio
• ultra-wideband (UWB)

In this article, a fully on-chip current-mode digital power amplifier (C-DPA) for ultrawideband (UWB) transmitter that features reconfigurable pulse-shaping is presented. The proposed UWB pulse-shaping technique is implemented by the programmable delay lines to achieve high spectrum utilization and significant sidelobe suppression. An AM-AM calibration method is used to improve the linearity of the generated pulses. Furthermore, an on-chip broadband output matching network (OMN) with a second-harmonic trap enables the entire chip to be implemented by thin-gate transistors without the risk of breakdown. As a proof-of-concept, a prototype is implemented in a 28-nm CMOS process with a supply voltage of 0.9 V. The measurement results comply with the physical requirement of the IEEE 802.15.4z standard. The chip can operate in channels from 4 to 9 GHz at various mean pulse repetition frequency (PRF) from 1 to 249.6 MHz. The designed pulse shaper enables reconfiguring pulse templates with a bandwidth from 0.5 to 1.33 GHz. The measured spectrum utilization is up to 58%/57% in band 9/11 with a bandwidth of 0.5/1.33 GHz and the measured sidelobe suppression above 30 dBr. The peak output power is 14.5 dBm, with a peak drain efficiency of 42% within the operating frequency range.