Recent progress on high-efficiency CMOS and SiGe RF power amplifier design

Abstract

The majority of the world's RF wireless power amplifiers (PA) products are still designed in III-V semiconductors today. However, by taking advantage of nm silicon devices and novel RF system-on-a-chip (SoC) design techniques, several groups have recently reported highly-competitive silicon RF PAs in both CMOS and SiGe BiCMOS technologies with performance rivaling those of the III-V RF PAs. We will, therefore, present an up-to-date review on recent design trends of silicon-based PAs, with the focus on high-efficient broadband wireless and 5G PA design.