A compact broadband transformer‐based linear CMOS power amplifier design

Abstract

AbstractA novel broadband transformer‐based CMOS power amplifier (PA) design method is studied in this article. To obtain a broadband PA, the parasitic parameters of the transformer are absorbed into the PAs load match and their impacts on bandwidth are studied. The fully‐integrated PA combined with an 8‐shaped transformer is implemented in 0.13 μm CMOS process with only 1.2 × 1.2 mm2 chip size and operates at Class AB mode. The single‐stage PA delivers 27.36 dBm output power with 27% efficiency and has 10.5 dB gain. It has 500 MHz bandwidth (1 dB degeneration) in the large and small signal measurements. IMD3 and IMD5 are also lower than −25 dBc at 19 dBm across the bandwidth. The spectrum of PA can meet the m‐WiMAX spectrum mask at 19 dBm average power level. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 53:422–425, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.25731