A 22-dBm 24-GHz power amplifier using 0.18-µm CMOS technology

A fully integrated 24-GHz 22-dBm power amplifier was designed and fabricated in 0.18-µm CMOS technology. Optimized device size selection and resonance matching techniques are adopted in this single stage power amplifier design. High pass matching circuit is used to reduce output losses and maintain gain flatness. The measurement results shows a 22 dBm of saturation power and 20 dBm of output power at 1 dB compression point with peak PAE of 20% under 3.6 V bias supply. To the best of author's knowledge, this PA demonstrates the highest output power and highest PAE at 1 dB compression among the reported CMOS PAs in this frequency range.