A Wideband Low Impedance 6W Transmitter for 5G Base Stations in 22 nm FD-SOI CMOS

This paper presents a fully integrated non-frequency-translating transmitter covering $\mathbf{1. 25-5.5~GHz}$. It features a highly linear and controllable pre-power amplifier (PPA), a low impedance class AB PA, and a transmit/receive switch (TRX-switch). Including TRX-switch losses, the transmitter reaches a state-of-the-art saturated output power of 38.1 dBm with a 1 dB output compression point of 37.4 dBm. Stimulated with a 100 MHz 16-QAM OFDM RF-signal, without predistortion and operating with 7.4 V PA supply, the transmitter delivers a 2.7 GHz modulated signal with an output power of 32.6 dBm and an error vector magnitude (EVM) of $\mathbf{- 1 7. 6} \mathrm{dB}$, with a complete transmitter efficiency of 13.5%. Operating at a reduced PA supply ($\mathbf{3. 8} \mathrm{V}$) it can deliver $\gt \mathbf{2 0} \mathbf{d B m}$ output power with $\lt-\mathbf{3 3} \mathbf{~ d B}$ EVM. To handle the high power dissipation, special emphasis is put on cooling of the die. The active part of the die, manufactured in 22 nm FD-SOI CMOS, occupies $3 \mathrm{~mm}^{2}$.