K-band CMOS-based power amplifier module with MEMS tunable bandpass filter

Abstract

This paper presents a novel tunable power amplifier module consisting of a CMOS-based broadband power amplifier and a MEMS tunable bandpass filter in K-band. The 90-nm CMOS-based power amplifier with a two-stage cascode configuration and a broadband output matching circuit has an output power of over 20 dBm at a wide frequency range between 16 GHz and 26 GHz. The power amplifier module with a MEMS tunable bandpass filter demonstrates tunable frequency characteristics from 19.5 GHz to 24.5 GHz with a linear gain of over 17 dB and a P<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3dB</inf> output power of over 20 dBm. This tunable power amplifier technique is a first step toward future reconfigurable radio front-end modules up to K-band.