Abstract
In this paper, the influence of the DC-blocking capacitors leveraged in coplanar waveguide (CPW) matching networks is studied. CPW matching networks with series-connected DC-blocking capacitors are less sensitive to capacitance and are adopted in a 28 GHz power amplifier (PA). The PA targeting fifth-generation (5G) phased array is developed in 90 nm silicon-on-insulator complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (SOI CMOS) technology. A stacked field-effect-transistor (FET) architecture is elected in the output stage to boost the output power and reduce the die area. The PA with a core area of 0.31 mm2 demonstrates a maximum small signal gain of 13.7 dB and a −3 dB bandwidth of 6.3 GHz (22.9–29.2 GHz). The PA achieves a measured saturated output power (Psat) of 14.4 dBm and a peak power added efficiency (PAE) of 25% for continuous wave signals. At 24/25.6/28 GHz, the PA achieves +7.87/+9.16/+10.7 dBm measured output power and 6.21%/8.11%/10.17% PAE at −25 dBc error vector magnitude(EVM) for a 250 MHz-wide 64-quadrature amplitude modulation (64-QAM). The developed linear PA provides a great potential for low-cost 5G phased array transceivers.
Highlights
The fifth generation (5G) communication technology provides a great potential for numerous emerging applications, such as broadband data traffic, augmented reality (AR), internet of things (IOT), internet of vehicles (IOV), etc
A great deal of efforts has been made by researchers to get an accurate model of lumped inductors and metal–insulator–metal (MIM) capacitors for the process usually feature low self-resonance frequencies, and the Q-factor of capacitor is inversely proportional to the operation frequency [20]
Five metal layers are fabricated for the back end of line (BEOL)
Summary
The fifth generation (5G) communication technology provides a great potential for numerous emerging applications, such as broadband data traffic, augmented reality (AR), internet of things (IOT), internet of vehicles (IOV), etc. Because of the wide available bandwidth, the mm-Wave technique will play a key role in these emerging demands to achieve multi-gigabit-per-second data rates [1,2,3]. As an example of a transmitter front-end shown, numerous power amplifier (PA) cells with integrated phase shifters are required to provide medium power amplification for high-order quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signals and achieve accurate beam control. PAs with compact size, wide bandwidth, high linearity, and low cost are always desirable for 5G applications
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