A K‐band high‐gain power amplifier with slow‐wave transmission‐line transformer in 130‐nm RF CMOS

Abstract

Summary This paper presents a K‐band high‐gain Class‐A power amplifier (PA) with the two‐way combining approach in GSMC 130‐nm radio frequency (RF) complementary metal oxide semiconductor (RF CMOS). At the input, a slow‐wave transmission‐line transformer (S‐TLT) matching network is proposed for simultaneously realizing the impedance transformation and the single‐ended RF signal to differential conversion. Transmission‐line transformers (TLTs) are employed between the stages for coupling and inter‐stage matching. To improve the output power and efficiency, the placing and routing of the transistor layout are considered carefully for power stages to reduce the interconnecting and overlapping parasitics significantly. The PA has been fabricated and achieved good matching at 25 GHz, power gain of 17.8 dB, saturated output power of 14.9 dBm, output 1‐dB compression point of 12.4 dBm, and power added efficiency of 13.7% at a supply voltage of 1.5 V.

Detection of band edge frequencies in symmetric/asymmetric dielectric loaded helix slow‐wave structures

“…Although Solid-State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs) have grown in popularity in recent years, TWTs are commonly used as final stage power amplifiers for communication satellites, radars, electronic warfare systems. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Typical TWTs consist five main sections, namely, electron gun, SWS, input/output coupler(s), focusing structure, and collector. The electron gun block generates and forms an electron beam which acts as input of the SWS for beam-wave interaction.…”

“…It is well known that TWTs play important role in defense technology and many communication system applications, including broadcasting satellite system, as an RF device of earth stations. Although Solid‐State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs) have grown in popularity in recent years, TWTs are commonly used as final stage power amplifiers for communication satellites, radars, electronic warfare systems 1–13 . Typical TWTs consist five main sections, namely, electron gun, SWS, input/output coupler(s), focusing structure, and collector.…”

A 22.7‐ to 44.2‐GHz Darlington dual‐injection injection‐locked frequency tripler with >35dBc harmonic rejection for multiband 5G communication systems

“…Several broadband mm‐wave integrated circuit modules, such as low noise amplifiers, 5 frequency divider, 6 and power amplifiers, 7 have been reported. However, the high‐performance wideband frequency synthesizer is rarely studied, which makes it difficult to realize multiband mm‐wave transceivers.…”