A 24–28 GHz high-stability CMOS power amplifier using common-gate-shorting (CGS) technique with 17.5 dBm $${\hbox {P}}_{sat}$$ P sat and 16.3% PAE for 5G millimeter-wave applications

Abstract

This paper presents a 24–28 GHz high-stability millimeter-wave power amplifier (PA) implemented in low-cost $$0.13\, \upmu \hbox {m}$$ CMOS process. The PA consists of two cascode stages with passive transformer-based input and output baluns. The common-gate-shorting technique is proposed for high-stability and high-gain millimeter-wave cascode stage. To realize this technique, an interdigited powercell structure is adopted for MOS layout optimization. In order to improve $$\hbox {P}_{out}$$ and PAE, an inter-stage inductor is introduced. The proposed PA achieves a PAE over 16.3% with a saturated output power of 17.5 dBm. The maximum gain is 21.2 dB at 26 GHz.