168-195 GHz Power Amplifier with Output Power Larger Than 18 dBm in BiCMOS Technology

Abstract

This paper presents a 4-way combined G-band power amplifier (PA) fabricated with a 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS process. First, a single-ended PA based on the cascode topology (CT) is designed at 185 GHz, which consists of three stages to get an overall gain and an output power higher than 27 dB and 13 dBm, respectively. Then, a 4-way combiner/splitter was designed using low-loss transmission lines at 130-210 GHz. Finally, the combiner was loaded with four single-ended PAs to complete the design of a 4-way combined PA. The chip of the fabricated PA occupies an area of 1.35mm2. The realized PA shows a saturated output power of 18.1 dBm with a peak gain of 25.9 dB and power-added efficiency (PAE) of 3.5% at 185 GHz. A maximum output power of 18.7 dBm with PAE of 4.4% is achieved at 170 GHz. The 3-dB and 6-dB bandwidth of the PA are 27 and 42 GHz, respectively. In addition, the PA delivers a saturated output power higher than 18 dBm in the frequency range 140-186 GHz. To the best of our knowledge, the power reported in this paper is the highest for G-band SiGe BiCMOS PAs. © 2013 IEEE.