A 15 GHz CMOS RF switch employing large-signal impedance matching

Employing large-signal impedance matching for the transmit node and conjugate matching for the receive node, a 15 GHz CMOS switch with high power handling is designed. With the design techniques, the P/sub -1dB/ in the transmit mode and the transducer power gain in the receive mode at high frequencies have been significantly improved. The switch exhibits P/sub -1dB/ of 23.6 dBm and 14.0 dBm, insertion loss of 2.08 dB and 3.67 dB, and isolation of 19.5 dB and 14.4 dB at 15 GHz in the transmit and receive modes, respectively. The results achieved from this design demonstrate that T/R switches with high P/sub -1dB/ low insertion loss, and high isolation at high frequency that are comparable to III-V counterparts can be realized with CMOS for high level integration.