Broadband and High-Efficiency Power Amplifier That Integrates CMOS and IPD Technology

Abstract

This paper presents a broadband and high-efficiency integrated CMOS-integrated passive device (IPD) power amplifier (PA) with heterogeneous integration of active devices that are fabricated using 0.18 μm CMOS technology and passive components that are fabricated using IPD technology. The passive components that are fabricated using IPD technology have the advantages of high-Q, low-loss performance, and low cost. By replacing the conventional series resonant output matching network of class-E PA with a broadband Ruthroff-type transmission line transformer (TLT), the proposed PA exhibits broadband characteristics. It performs efficiently owing to the benefits of the low-loss TLT and the switching mode operation of the class-E PA. The measurements demonstrate an output power of more than 25.64 dBm and a power-added efficiency (PAE) of more than 40.2% over the bandwidth from 2 to 3 GHz. The peak output power and PAE are 26.18 dBm and 47.4%, respectively.