A fully integrated 22.6dBm mm-Wave PA in 40nm CMOS

Abstract

A fully integrated 60GHz CMOS PA with a PSAT of 22.6dBm is presented. To our knowledge, this is the highest reported PSAT at mm-waves in standard CMOS. To achieve a high power level, 32 differential PAs are combined through a network of transmission lines, Wilkinson combiners, and a multi-port argyle transformer. This method of combining minimizes loss while implementing a low impedance load (~12Ω) at the drains of each of the last stage PAs. Electromigration and other reliability issues are discussed.