Design of a wideband 0.18‐μm SiGe BiCMOS power amplifier in Ku and K bands. Issue 10 (26th September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hsiao, Meng‐Jie; Kim, Kyoungwoon; Nguyen, Cam
• Is Part Of: Microwave and optical technology letters. Volume 60:Issue 10(2018:Oct.)
• Page Start: 2392
• Page End: 2397
• Publication Date: 2018-09-26
• Subjects: BiCMOS -- CMOS -- power amplifier (PA) -- RFIC -- wideband amplifiers; Microwaves -- Periodicals; Optics -- Periodicals; 621
• DOI: 10.1002/mop.31381
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0895-2477

Abstract

Abstract: A new wideband 0.18‐μm SiGe BiCMOS power amplifier (PA) operating from 16.5 to 25.5 GHz is presented. The PA consists of a drive amplifier and two main amplifiers integrated through lumped‐element Wilkinson power divider and combiner. The PA exploits the advantages of both HBT and NMOS characteristics in a cascode topology in addition to floating the NMOS body to achieve good gain, output power, power‐aided efficiency (PAE), and linearity. The developed PA has relatively flat saturated output power (Psat ) of 18.5‐20.8 dBm, output 1‐dB compression point (OP1dB) of 15.1‐18.1 dBm, 13.5‐23% maximum PAE, and gain of 19.5 ±1.5 dB across 16.5‐25.5 GHz. At 24 GHz, the PA achieves Psat, OP1dB, maximum PAE, and gain of 20.8 dBm, 18.1 dBm, 23%, and 20 dB, respectively.