Active Millimeter-Wave Phase-Shift Doherty Power Amplifier in 45-nm SOI CMOS

Abstract

A 45 GHz active phase-shift Doherty PA is proposed and implemented in 45-nm SOI CMOS. The quarter wave-length transmission line at the input of the auxiliary amplifier is replaced by an amplifier, increasing the gain and PAE by more than 1 dB and 5%, while reducing the die area. Use of slow-wave coplanar waveguides (S-CPW) improves the PAE and gain by approximately 3% and 1 dB, and further reduces the die area. Two-stack FET amplifiers are used as the main and auxiliary amplifiers, allowing a supply voltage of 2.5 V and increasing the output power. The active phase-shift Doherty amplifier demonstrates a peak power gain and PAE of 8 dB and 20% at 45 GHz. It occupies 0.45 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> , and at 6-dB back-off power, the PAE is 21%.