A highly rugged 39 GHz 19.3 dBm Power Amplifier for 5G Applications in 45nm SOI Technology

Abstract

This paper describes a highly rugged poweramplifier for the fifth generation (5G) FR2 new radio (NR) application implemented in a 45nm SOI process (45RFSOI). By using device stacking technique together with an optimized supply voltage reduction, the power amplifier achieves 20 dBm Psat and 23 % PAEmax. A Pavg of 10 dBm and a PAEavg of 8% is achieved in 64-QAM 200MHz bandwidth OFDM at EVMavg of 6.2% (-24.1dB) without the use of digital predistortion. The 4:1 VSWR measurement shows an excellent PA reliability even under the worst mismatch condition. These results enable an efficient, high power and highly reliable power amplifier for 5G applications.