A 162 GHz power amplifier with 14 dBm output power

Abstract

A 3-stage power amplifier (PA) with 14dBm saturated output power (Psat), 29.5 dB small-signal gain, and 4.8% power-added efficiency (PAE) at a frequency of 162GHz is presented. From 155 to 165 GHz, Psat remains higher than 12.5 dBm, while the small-signal gain varies from 35.4 dB to 28.3 dB. Maximum output power and gain performance are obtained by using a differential cascode topology and operating the transistors well beyond their open-base collector-emitter breakdown voltage (BVCEO), and by optimum matching of the three stages of the PA. To our best knowledge, this is the highest reported output power for a sillicon-based PA beyond 150 GHz. The chip is fabricated in a 130nm SiGe BiCMOS technology with fT/fmax = 250/370 GHz.