A 5–5.8 GHz fully-integrated CMOS PA for WLAN applications

A 5-5.8 GHz fully-integrated power amplifier is designed and fabricated in TSMC standard 0.18-μm 1P6M CMOS technology. Utilizing a two-way direct shunt combining technique with an odd mode suppression resistor, the CMOS PA achieves a measured maximum saturation output power (P_sat) of 23.1 dBm at 5.2 GHz. The measured output 1-dB compression point (OP1dB) is 18.6 dBm and peak power-added efficiency (PAE) is 19.8 % at 5.2 GHz. By using broadband power matching topology, the output power of the CMOS PA is 22.6 ± 0.5 dBm from 5 to 5.8 GHz.