A high datarate wideband OOK transmitter for wireless neural signal recording

A gated injection locked wideband OOK transmitter for wireless neural signal recording is presented in this paper. For high data rate implantable devices such as wireless neural signal recording system, there is a tradeoff between transmission efficiency and overall form factor of the device. Higher transmission frequency reduces the antenna size and thus reduces the device form factor. However, higher frequency especially above 1 GHz experiences severe tissue loss. A high data rate 434 MHz OOK transmitter that optimally balances between these two factors is implemented in a 0.18-μm CMOS technology. It achieves a maximum data rate of 54.24 Mbps while consuming 5 mW from a 1.8-V supply, resulting in high energy efficiency of 92 pj/bit.