The transformer coupled mm-Wave CMOS Power Amplifier

Abstract

This paper presents a novel on chip transformer coupled PA (Power Amplifier) in a 9 Metal Generic 90-nm TSMC CMOS technology for the 60 GHz mm-Wave (millimetre wave) WPAN. The PA consists of three stage CS (Common Source) amplifiers and inter-stage matching transformers. The architecture of the transformer is a stacked-structure which provides high coupling coefficient with a relatively small size. The transformer's parameters are simulated by the 3-D electromagnetic simulator. To enhance the gain and linearity of the PA, the miller capacitance neutralized technique is adopted in this paper. The designed PA shows maximum 26.5 dB gain over 3 dB frequency 58.6 ~ 63.6 GHz. The output 1 dB compression point is 12.1 dBm, and the output saturation power is 14.46 dBm under 1.2V supply voltage. The PAE(Power Added Efficiency) of the circuit is 12.48 %. All the results of this paper are excellent comparing to previous work.