A wideband high-efficiency 79–97 GHz SiGe linear power amplifier with ≫ 90 mW output

A fully-integrated W-band power amplifier in a commercially-available 0.13 mum silicon germanium technology (max f
_t
= 200 GHz) is presented. The wideband, linear design achieves a maximum small-signal gain of 14.5 dB at 86 GHz with a fractional 3dB-bandwidth of 20% (79 to 97 GHz). The wideband performance extends to the large-signal characteristics: at 90 GHz, the balanced PA achieves an output P
_1dB
of 18.8 dBm (76 mW) and a saturated output power P
_sat
of 19.6 dBm (91 mW) with a peak PAE of 15.4%. The chip is 2.4 mm
²
and consumes a maximum quiescent current of 244 mA from a 1.7 to 2.3 V supply. All matching networks, bias circuits, and wideband capacitor bypass arrays are fully integrated on chip. To our knowledge, this is the highest power, most efficient silicon W-band amplifier to-date.