A Compact 39-GHz 17.2-dBm Power Amplifier for 5G Communication in 65-nm CMOS

This paper presents design of a 39-GHz power amplifier for fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication in millimeter-wave. The power amplifier consists of two differential capacitive-neutralized common-source stages. Low-loss transformers are employed for matching network in each stage. With 1.1-V supply, the power amplifier achieves a small-signal gain of 17 dB, saturated output power (P
_SAT
) of 17.2 dBm, and 1-dB compression point (P
_1dB
) of 15.5 dBm at 39 GHz. The amplifier has a maximum power-added efficiency (PAE
_MAX
) of 31.2% and 30.2% at P
_1dB
. The amplifier has an average output power of 9.0 dBm and 10.0% PAE with -25 dBc EVM. The amplifier has been fabricated in standard 65-nm CMOS and occupies an area of 0.081 mm
²
.