A 11% PAE, 15.8-dBm two-stage 90-GHz stacked-FET power amplifier in 45-nm SOI CMOS

A two-stage 90-GHz stacked-FET power amplifier is implemented in 45-nm SOI CMOS. Dual supply operation supports high gain, power and efficiency in the two-stage design. The amplifier exhibits greater than 15.8 dBm saturated output power with 10 dB peak power gain and achieves a record peak PAE of 11%. The PAE remains above 8% from 86 to 94 GHz. It occupies 0.05 mm
²
excluding pads.