A 77-GHz CMOS Power Amplifier With a Parallel Power Combiner Based on Transmission-Line Transformer

Abstract

This paper presents a 77-GHz CMOS power amplifier (PA) with a parallel power combiner based on a transmission-line transformer (TLT). An inter-stage matched cascode power cell structure is applied to obtain high output power and efficiency, where a simple matching network between the common-gate and common-source stage is introduced. The parallel power combiner based on a broadside-coupled TLT is analyzed and compared with a series power combiner. The PA is fabricated using a 65-nm RF CMOS process. It achieves the saturated output power of 15.8 dBm, the power-added efficiency of 15.2%, and the power gain of 20.9 dB with a supply voltage of 2.0 V at 77 GHz.