Watt-level mm-wave digital polar transmitters using switching power amplifiers in SiGe HBT

A Watt-level mm-wave digital polar transmitter (DPT) architecture, supporting high speed complex modulation schemes with high average efficiency, implemented in a SiGe HBT process is discussed in this paper. Design and implementation details of several blocks used in this digital polar transmitter including high power, high efficiency mm-wave Class-E power amplifiers and high speed modulators are presented. Performance trade-offs of a Watt-level mm-wave digital polar transmitter implemented in SiGe HBT BiCMOS process vis-a-vis a CMOS SOI implementation is also discussed.