A 60GHz-band 1V 11.5dBm power amplifier with 11% PAE in 65nm CMOS

Sub-1V supplies limit the output voltage swing and saturated output power of an amplifier integrated in deep-submicron CMOS technology. Aside from absolute output power, power-added efficiency (PAE), stability and gain are also important power-amplifier (PA) design considerations. High reverse isolation between output and input is necessary to mitigate the effects of antenna mismatch, limit unwanted interference between circuit blocks on-chip and to promote stability. Efficiency of the PA is also paramount for portable consumer electronic applications operating from a battery, such as short-range Gb/s communication SoCs operating in the unlicensed bands around 60GHz. Aside from the 60GHz band, long-range collision-avoidance radar for automobiles (77/79GHz), and radio imaging (94GHz) are also potential applications for CMOS at mm-wave frequencies [1–4].

[1]  M. Weybright,et al.  High performance and low power transistors integrated in 65nm bulk CMOS technology , 2004, IEDM Technical Digest. IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting, 2004..

[2]  Joy Laskar,et al.  A 90nm CMOS 60GHz Radio , 2008, 2008 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference - Digest of Technical Papers.

[3]  Kenichi Maruhashi,et al.  TX and RX Front-Ends for 60GHz Band in 90nm Standard Bulk CMOS , 2008, 2008 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference - Digest of Technical Papers.

[4]  Ali M. Niknejad,et al.  A 60GHz 1V + 12.3dBm Transformer-Coupled Wideband PA in 90nm CMOS , 2008, 2008 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference - Digest of Technical Papers.

[5]  Sorin P. Voinigescu,et al.  A 95GHz Receiver with Fundamental-Frequency VCO and Static Frequency Divider in 65nm Digital CMOS , 2008, 2008 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference - Digest of Technical Papers.