A W-band wavelet generator using 0.13-μm InP HEMTs for multi-gigabit communications based on ultra-wideband impulse radio

A wavelet generator (WG) based on simple ultra-wideband impulse radio (UWB-IR) architecture has been developed to use for multi-gigabit communications systems that utilize the W-band millimeter wave (75–110 GHz). The W-band WG radiates a pulse signal, or a wavelet, whose full width at half maximum is less than 80 ps, which makes it possible to realize a 12.5-Gb/s ON/OFF keying transmitter. The WG consists of only two components: a pulse generator (PG) and a band pass filter (BPF). The digital-based PG was fabricated by using 0.13-μm InP HEMTs and created a record short pulse of 7.6 ps and 0.8 Vpp. The BPF was designed to be a five-stage microstrip coupled line filter on an alumina substrate. The 3-dB pass band of the BPF was 78–93 GHz and its insertion loss was 1.5±0.1 dB. The group delay was 100±10 ps in the pass band. To the best of our knowledge, the WG is the first UWB-IR-based signal source that generates more than 10-Gb/s wavelets in the W-band.