Stability Analysis of On-Chip Multi-Stage RF Power Amplifiers

Abstract

On-chip multi-stage wideband power amplifiers may show oscillations due to an unwanted feedback loop via the power distribution network. A fully differential CMOS amplifier with a bandwidth from 6 to 9 GHz that was expected to be sensitive to oscillations has been analyzed by utilizing a novel pre-layout method for estimating power grid parasitics including inductance effects. Sweeping the parameters of the power grid models enabled us to find a power grid that improved the stability of the power amplifier (PA).