A 0.25- /spl mu/m CMOS ultra-wideband amplifier for time-domain UWB applications

An ultra-wideband (UWB) amplifier has been developed using a standard low cost 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS process for UWB applications. A finite-ground coplanar waveguide (CPW) is used for easy shunt connection and low loss. The developed UWB amplifier works over the entire ultra-wide bandwidth of 3.1-10.6 GHz under the non-sinusoidal time-domain signal operation needed for UWB systems. The amplifier was designed and characterized completely in the time domain. Time-domain measurement results show gain around 6 dB and return loss greater than 13 dB. The UWB CPW CMOS amplifier has linear phase and produces amplified signals which resemble faithfully the input UWB non-sinusoidal pulses, demonstrating its suitability for time-domain UWB applications.