A 13.5-to-17 dBm P1dB, selective, high-gain power amplifier for 60 GHz applications in SiGe

A fully integrated differential power amplifier (PA), produced in 0.25 mum SiGe:C BiCMOS process for 60 GHz application is presented. Differential 1 dB compression point (P1dB) at the output is 13.5 dBm at 61.5 GHz and as high as 17 dBm at 65 GHz. Saturated power is 18.7 dBm at 61.5 GHz and maximum 19 dBm at 66 GHz. PA features three-stage cascade topology with measured gain of 33 dB at 61 GHz. The amplifier is selective with 20 dB image rejection at 51 GHz, which is image frequency for the targeted transmitter architecture. Compact differential design resulted in small size of 0.6 mm² with pads. Maximum power-aided efficiency (PAE) is 7.8% for 800 mW power consumption, and 10.2% for 600 mW.