A 170 MHz to 2.8 GHz RF Pulse-Width and Pulse-Position Modulator IC with Digital Input Updated at Carrier Frequency

A pulse-width and pulse-position modulator (PWPM) IC for RF carriers from 170 MHz to 2.8 GHz is presented. The IC features with a digital 5 bit pulse-width (PW) and 6 bit pulse-center (PC) input interface, updated at the RF carrier frequency, a small arithmetic unit, two delay locked loops with a new phase detector, two phase selectors, CMOS pulse logic and two differential binary RF outputs. At 900 MHz, a 14 MBd 256-QAM (112 Mb/s) signal exhibits an EVM of 1.83 % and an ACLR of -45 dB. At 2016 MHz, an ultra-broadband 504 MBd 16-QAM (2.016 Gb/s) signal with an EVM of 13.5 % and a BER of 1.5·10-4 is demonstrated. The IC is implemented in a 28 nm fully depleted silicon-oninsulator (FDSOI) CMOS technology and runs from a 1.0 V supply. It consumes 38 mW at 900 MHz and 58 mW at 2016 MHz carrier frequency.