A 3.3-V Ku-Band Front-End Module With 2.6-dB NF and 18.9-dBm OP1dB in 65-nm CMOS

This brief presents a novel Ku-band front-end module (FEM) powered by 3.3 V supply voltage in 65-nm bulk CMOS technology with a focus on reliability. 3-stack structure is adopted in the power amplifier (PA)to achieve high output power within a compact design framework. By refining the design of stacked gate-to-ground capacitors, we significantly enhance the gate oxide layer’s reliability under high-power conditions. The low noise amplifier (LNA) uses a multicoupled transformer which provides sufficient bandwidth and low noise figure (NF). The switch incorporates an electrostatic discharge (ESD) module to protect the transistors, seamlessly integrating ESD protection without compromising RF performance. The measurement results demonstrate that in the TX mode, the proposed FEM achieves an OP1dB of 18.9 dBm with a peak power added efficiency (PAE) of 22% at 15 GHz. In theRX mode, the FEM achieves a gain of 25.8 dB and a noise figure ranging from 2.6 to 4.1 dB.