78.8 pJ/b, 100 Mb/s Noncoherent IR-UWB Receiver for Multichannel Neurorecording Implants

In this article, we present a novel approach for designing a low-power, low-area impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) noncoherent receiver capable of achieving a data rate of 100 Mbps. Our proposed receiver demonstrates the ability to demodulate ON-OFF keying pulse streams across the entire lower frequency band defined by the Federal Communication Commission for UWB applications. The key components of the proposed receiver include a reconfigurable differential two-stage low-noise amplifier, a fully differential squarer, narrow-band interface rejection filters, and variable gain baseband amplifiers. These circuits work cohesively to ensure efficient signal reception and processing. To validate the performance of the proposed receiver, we implemented the design using TSMC 40-nm CMOS process technology. A short-range communication including a 1.5 cm tissue layer is tested utilizing a typical upconversion UWB transmitter fabricated in the same technology. Remarkably, the proposed receiver achieves a data rate of 100 Mbps with an impressively low energy efficiency of 78.8 pJ/b and occupies an area of 0.705 $\textrm{mm}^{2}$. The compact size, remarkable energy efficiency, and high data rate capabilities of the proposed receiver meet the stringent requirements of neural recording implants.