A 26-to-39GHz Broadband Ultra-Compact High-Linearity Switchless Hybrid N/PMOS Bi-Directional PA/LNA Front-End for Multi-Band 5G Large-Scaled MIMO System

Abstract

The continuous growth of data-rates has stimulated the rapid development of 5G New Radio (NR) in the mm-wave FR2 bands (above 24GHz). Consequently, to compensate for the mm-wave high path loss, large-scaled MIMO arrays have become essential. This calls for compact high-performance mm-wave 5G front-end electronics to integrate many MIMO channels on the same chip for low cost and low form factor. A main challenge for mm-wave 5G MIMOs is to integrate both front-end transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) chains in each array pixel with a minimum silicon area to form a co-apertured low-cost array [1]. The conventional TRX architecture often consists of a PA and an LNA placed in parallel and combined by a T/R switch to control the TX/RX mode. Although this topology eases the design, it faces chip area increase due to many separate matching networks for the PA/LNA/switch, as well as the switch loss that degrades the PA output power (Pout) and LNA noise figure (NF). On the other hand, though bi-directional mm-wave front-ends are gaining popularity, existing designs only show narrow bandwidth and very limited PA Pout and efficiency.