This paper presents the design of a fully integrated ultra-low-power Ultra Wide Band (UWB) pulse generator. The circuit is designed and optimized for low rate and localization applications. This UWB transmitter is based on the impulse response filter method in order to achieve high energy sub-nanosecond pulses. The circuit has been integrated in a ST-Microelectronics CMOS 0.13 μm technology with a supply voltage of 1.2 V on a die area of 0.56 mm2. A power manager is used to reduce the power leakages to 3.91 μW which gives a power consumption of 3.98 Mw at 10 kb/s. The measured dynamic energy consumed per pulse is 68 pJ and the measured energy of the emitted pulse is 2.15 pJ.

Raman spectroscopy is a powerful and versatile technique for stress measurements in complex stacks of thin crystalline layers at macroscopic and microscopic scales. Using such a technique we show that thick SiGe layers epitaxially grown using graded buffer method are fully relaxed (>95%) at a macroscopic scale but exhibit a small strain modulation at a microscopic scale. For the first time we report the results of Raman micro-mapping of stress distribution in SGOI wafers produced by Smart Cut™ technology. We conclude that Smart Cut™ is a unique method to manufacture the next generation of engineered wafers that can combine strained and/or relaxed SiGe alloys, Si and Ge films, while keeping their initial strain properties at both scales. It is important to develop Raman spectroscopy tool for in-line process control in fabrication of strained Silicon On Insulator (sSOI) wafers.