A High-Power 24-40-GHz Transmit-Receive Front End for Phased Arrays in 45-nm CMOS SOI

• Published in: IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques 2020-11, Vol.68 (11), p.4775-4786
• Main Authors: Lokhandwala, Mustafa, Gao, Li, Rebeiz, Gabriel M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 45-nm CMOS silicon-on-insulator (SOI); 5G mobile communication; Capacitance; CMOS; front end; high efficiency; high power; low noise figure (NF); millimeter wave; Phased arrays; Substrates; Switches; Switching circuits; Transistors; Wideband; wideband receiver
• ISSN: 0018-9480; 1557-9670
• DOI: 10.1109/TMTT.2020.2998011

This article presents a dual-band millimeter-wave front end in 45-nm CMOS silicon-on-insulator (SOI) for 5G applications. The front end is composed of a low-noise amplifier (LNA), power amplifier (PA), and a single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switch. A double-tuned PA is used and is based on a two-stage stacked amplifier with a reconfigurable load using SOI switches, so as to achieve an optimal load for both 28- and 39-GHz 5G NR bands. A wideband series-shunt switch is also developed with high power handling (P1dB >22 dBm) and < 1-dB insertion loss at 20-40 GHz. In the receive mode, the front end has a measured peak gain of 19.3 dB with a 3-dB bandwidth of 19.7-40 GHz, a noise figure (NF) < 4 dB at 18-40 GHz, and an IP1dB of 19 to 16 dBm. In the transmit mode and for low-band operation, the peak gain is 17.6 dB with a 3-dB bandwidth of 22.7-30.8 GHz. The P_{\mathrm {sat}} is > 18.8 dBm and the peak PAE is 18% at 24-30 GHz and includes the switch loss and compression. For high-band operation, the gain at 36-40 GHz is 13.6 ± 1.5 dB with P_{\mathrm {sat}} > 18 dBm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first front end that covers both the 24-28- and 37-40-GHz 5G bands with high output power and low-NF. Application areas are in multistandard base stations and small cells.