An ultra-wideband impulse receiver for sub-100fsec time-transfer and sub-30μm localization

An ultra-wideband impulse receiver capable of detecting sub-200psec pulses is presented. The chip detects a specific zero-crossing of an incoming pulse and mitigates the undesired effects of ringing. The time detection sensitivity of the chip is limited by the jitter of the incoming pulse rather than the pulse width. A mean RMS jitter of 94fsec is recorded, which translates to the localization accuracy of sub-30μm. The chip is fabricated in IBM 130nm SiGe BiCMOS process technology.