A 13.5–19 GHz 20.6-dB Gain CMOS Power Amplifier for FMCW Radar Application

A Ku-band wideband power amplifier (PA) for frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar application is proposed and implemented in 65-nm bulk CMOS technology. To obtain low group delay, low amplitude ripple, and wide bandwidth, the transformer and inductor-based matching network is designed to meet the requirements. Including pads, the PA occupies a compact chip area of 0.62 mm
²
. Consuming 118-mA current from 1.2-V power supply, it demonstrates output saturation power of 13.9 dBm. The measured 3-dB bandwidth is 5.5 GHz with maximum gain of 20.65 dB at 15.5 GHz. Finally, the PA is integrated with an FMCW signal generator to constitute an FMCW radar transmitter. The amplitude ripple of this chirp signal is less than 2 dB, and the output power is larger than 9 dBm through a bonding wire and a transmission line on printed circuit board.