A W-band Power Amplifier with 15-dBm Psat and 14% PAE in 0.13-µm SiGe HBT Technology

In this work, the design of a wideband millimetre-wave (mm-Wave) power amplifier (PA) is presented. To ensure the designed PA has not only a sufficient output power with good power-added efficiency (PAE) but also superior input and output impedance matching, a balanced amplifier (BA) architecture is used. A prototype PA is designed in a 0.13-µm SiGe HBT technology. With a 1.6- V power supply, the PA can deliver more than 15 dBm saturated output power between 85–100 GHz that is equivalent to more than 16% fractional bandwidth. The peak PAE is better than 14.7% within this frequency range. The overall physical dimension of the designed PA is very compact. Including all pads, it is only 0.6 mm x 0.9 mm.