An inductor-less transmission line based 60 GHz PA in 65-nm CMOS with analog power control

A 60 GHz PA is designed with transmission line-based replacement for magnetic circuit elements like inductors and transformers. This technique has the advantage that the traditional constraints of bandwidth, self-resonance frequency (SRF) and quality factor are easily overcome. The components are better modelled in EM simulations and are area-efficient. The PA is designed in 65-nm CMOS and occupies an area of 0.288mm
²
(including pads) and produces a maximum power of 13.4 dBm at a peak PAE of 24%. At 60 GHz, an output power of 12.2 dBm with an efficiency of 17.8% is obtained. The design also demonstrates analog power control by varying the bias of the main PA in a cascade of multiple gain stages.