75 – 105 GHz switching power amplifiers using high-breakdown, high-fmax multi-port stacked transistor topologies

High-breakdown, high-fmax multi-port transistor topologies are presented in this work for realizing high power, highly efficient mm-wave switching power amplifiers at 75-105 GHz. Implemented in a 90nm SiGe BiCMOS process, the proposed active structures comprising of two and three stacked transistors with integrated layout parasitics achieve (fmax, breakdown voltage) of (295 GHz, 8V) and (260 GHz, 11 V) respectively and demonstrate peak (output power, PAE) of (22 dBm, 19%) at 85 GHz and (23.3 dBm, 17%) at 83 GHz respectively. The implemented designs are benchmarked against a 88 GHz 19.5 dBm, 16% PAE W-band Class-E power amplifier using native transistor footprints fabricated in the same 90nm SiGe BiCMOS process. The superior performance of the composite transistor designs highlight the benefit of the proposed approach.