A wideband 100–130GHz direct conversion high efficiency transmitter in 28nm CMOS

This paper presents the design of a 120GHz, 28nm CMOS direct conversion transmitter. The transmitter architecture is based on a wideband baseband capable of supporting BPSK, QPSK and 16QAM modulations, DAC-mixer, LO feeding network with hybrid 90° to support IQ modulation and a PA stage. The transmitter measured output power is -1dBm. The PA simulated OP1dB is 1dBm and the saturation power is 6dBm across 100-130GHz. The chip core area is 0.7×0.4mm2 (1×0.7mm2 with pads) and the DC power consumption is 84mW. The transmitter is capable supporting up to 17Gbps BPSK modulation and 27Gbps QPSK modulation with low BER.