A SiGe-based E-band power amplifier with 17.7 dBm output power and 325-GHz GBW

A high-gain, wideband power amplifier (PA) in 0.18-μm SiGe HBT technology covering the three high-speed E-band communication channels (71-76 GHz, 81-86GHz and 92-95 GHz) is presented. The architecture is based on a class-A three stage cascode amplifier. Bandwidth enhancement is achieved using inter-stage lossy-matching and gain-staggering techniques. The PA demonstrates a peak small-signal gain of 23dB and a saturated output power (P
_sat
) of 17.7 dBm with a 14.8% power-added efficiency (PAE). With a 3-dB gain and P
_sat
bandwidth of about 23GHz, it shows a fractional bandwidth of more than 27%. The PA draws 115mA from a 3.3-V supply.