An 8-Way Combined E-Band Power Amplifier with 24 dBm Psat and 12% PAE in 0.12 μm SiGe

This paper presents a fully-integrated 8-way combined power amplifier designed in 0.12 μm SiGe BiCMOS and working in the frequency range of 60-75 GHz. The 8-way combined PA uses reactive transmission line impedance transformation networks to combine power from 8 common-emitter based PA unit cells. The breakout of a single PA achieves a saturated output power of 16.1 dBm and a peak PAE of 16.5%. The 8-way combined power amplifier achieves 24 dBm saturated output power and 12% peak PAE. Modulated signals with data rates up to 32 Gb/s are passed through both PA's and measurements of EVM and PAE versus average output power for a IGBaud 64-QAM modulated signal are presented.