Design of A D-band Transformer-Based Neutralized Class-AB Power Ampliﬁer in Silicon Technologies

Design of A D-band Transformer-Based Neutralized Class-AB Power Ampliﬁer in Silicon Technologies ■

Xinyan Tang, Xinyan Tang, Alaaeldien Medra, Alaaeldien Medra, Johan Nguyen, Johan Nguyen, Khaled Khalaf, Khaled Khalaf, Bjorn Debaillie, Bjorn Debaillie, Piet Wambacq, Piet Wambacq

Abstract ■

High-speed wireless communication in the post-5G era will likely make use of frequency bands above 100 GHz. This poses challenges to IC design in silicon technologies. This paper presents a general comparison of a D-band transformer-based Class-AB power ampliﬁer with cross-coupled capacitive neutralization in three advanced silicon technologies: bulk CMOS, fullydepleted SOI, and SiGe BiCMOS. Each of these technologies has its own prospects and disadvantages. A comparison of performance parameters is made such as the maximum available power gain Gmax , saturation power Psat , drain efﬁciency DE and power added efﬁciency PAE after properly sizing the transistors to reach an optimum load resistance Ropt . Further, a 140 GHz 4-stage power ampliﬁer is fabricated in a 28 nm bulk CMOS process as a reference. Its design considerations, layout parasitics analysis, and layout techniques are discussed as well.