60GHz CMOS power amplifier with 20-dB-gain and 12dBm Psat

Abstract

A 60 GHz power amplifier with 20 dB small signal gain is designed and fabricated using standard 1P7M 90 nm CMOS process technology. An excellent correlation between the simulation and measurement is demonstrated. The 3-dB bandwidth exceeding 57 to 65 GHz is achieved. This power amplifier delivers +8.2 dBm output P1 dB with a linear gain of 20 dB and a saturated output power of +12.0 dBm with maximum PAE of 9.0% at 1.2 V operation. When it is operated at 1.5 V it achieves 22 dB small signal gain, 10.0 dBm output P1 dB and 12.4 dBm saturated output power. This is the highest gain along with high output power and high max PAE CMOS power amplifier operating in the 60 GHz unlicensed band reported till date. A temperature dependent scalable CMOS device model has been developed for the first time, implementing in the design of the power amplifier and the measured output power characteristics of this 60 GHz CMOS power amplifier shows very stable operation over the entire temperature range between -10degC and +80degC.