A 40-67GHz power amplifier with 13dBm PSAT and 16% PAE in 28 nm CMOS LP

Abstract

A design methodology for interstage and output matching networks for wide-band Power Amplifiers for wireless applications is proposed. Leveraging wideband inductively coupled resonators, we apply Norton transformations for impedance matching. A two-stage differential PA with neutralized common source stages has been realized in 28 nm CMOS using low-power devices. The PA delivers 13 dBm saturated output power over 40-67GHz bandwidth with a peak power-added efficiency of 16% without power combining. To the best of author's knowledge, the presented PA shows state-of-the art performances with the largest fractional bandwidth among mm-wave PAs reported so far