A 50–59 GHz CMOS Injection Locking Power Amplifier

The injection-locked power amplifier (ILPA) has demonstrated relatively high gain and high efficiency at millimeter-wave frequency. However, their application is still limited by its sensitivity to loading effect and narrow injection locking bandwidth. In this letter, a wide injection locking ILPA using buffered input and output has been proposed and implemented on 65 nm CMOS technology. The buffered input and output can improve the injection locking range and avoid load-to-tank pulling. The measured injection locking range is from 50 GHz to 59 GHz and the peak Power Added Efficiency (PAE) is 16.1% with a maximum output power of 11.39 dBm. Moreover, the die size is merely 260 μm×400 μm excluding pads.

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