A 3-10 GHz 13 pJ/pulse dual BPSK/QPSK pulse modulator based on harmonic injection locking

We present a new method to phase-modulate RF pulses through injection locking. The modulator can produce BPSK or QPSK modulated pulses over a frequency span of 3 to 10 GHz. The RF pulses are produced using a fast on/off switching technique to power up and power down a tunable ring oscillator. Experiments show that the modulator´s energy consumption ranges from 13 pJ/pulse to 18 pJ/pulse as the carrier frequency varies from 3 GHz to 10 GHz. The energy consumption figures are for 2 ns long pulses with amplitudes of 300 mV at 3 GHz and 200 mV at 10 GHz. The pulse repetition rate is 250 MHz. The chip was fabricated in 130 nm CMOS and the core circuit area is only 0.05 mm².