A multi-mode 60-GHz power amplifier with a novel power combination technique

Jin Fu Yeh*, Jeng Han Tsai, Tian Wei Huang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper discusses two issues including a new power-combined technique and efficiency enhancement technique in mm-wave power amplifier design. A new concept of "folded-transformer" is proposed to reduce effectively the active area of power combiner and splitter. Furthermore, the efficiency enhancement technique at power-back operations is presented to extend the battery service time of the mobile device. The 60-GHz PA adopts an ultra-compact 4-way folded-transformer based architecture and provides power level-dependent multi-operating modes. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first mm-wave power amplifier with efficiency enhancement technique at power back-off operations. The PA is implemented in TSMC 90nm low-power CMOS process. While 1.2 V supply, the measurement results show that the peak power is 18.5 dBm at 60GHz and the drain efficiency of the power stage achieves of 24.1%. At 6dB/10dB power back-off operation, the drain efficiencies of power stage can be enhanced from 5.9% / 2.4% to 11.9% / 8%, respectively.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2012 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium, RFIC 2012 - Digest of Papers
Pages61-64
Number of pages4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012
Event2012 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium, RFIC 2012 - Montreal, QC, Canada
Duration: 2012 Jun 172012 Jun 19

Publication series

NameDigest of Papers - IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium
ISSN (Print)1529-2517

Other

Other2012 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium, RFIC 2012
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityMontreal, QC
Period2012/06/172012/06/19

Keywords

  • 60-GHz
  • efficiency enhancement
  • folded transformer
  • mobile
  • power amplifiers

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering

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