Common source power amplifier design for 5G application in 28-nm UTBB FD-SOI technology

Abstract The telecommunication market examines a highly growing demand for RF mobile devices where low latency and high performance are ongoing improvement. The power amplifier (PA) is a major element of the radio frequency front-end; especially if power consumption and bandwidth are considered. This paper presents the design of 5G mm-wave PA using both Common Source Class-AB and Class-J topologies utilizing 28-nm UTBB FD-SOI technology and its body bias technique. Upon taking into consideration the parasitic extraction of the transistor, RF pads, and interconnection to ground, a comparison is made and the theoretical effectiveness of Class-J topology for single stage large signal amplification is simulated. Moreover, two distinct transistors - widths of 250 µm and 350 µm - are simulated where each has its own topology in order to study the impact of increasing the width on the performance of the PA. The stability of the designed Power Amplifiers is taken into consideration and the unconditional stability conditions are approved. While 5G spectral band is not yet specified and determined, recent studies proved that the 28 GHz band is particularly effective for 5G mobile standardization.