A miniature DC-to-50 GHz CMOS SPDT distributed switch

A dc-to-50-GHz SPDT switch in standard bulk 0.18-μm CMOS process is demonstrated in this paper. In order to extend the operation frequency, the traveling-wave circuit topology is utilized. The switch achieves a measured insertion loss of less than 6 dB, a measured isolation of better than 38 dB from dc to 50 GHz. The measured input P_1dB of 17.4 dBm at 5.8 GHz and 19.6 dBm at 40 GHz is attained. The chip size is only 0.5 × 0.5 mm². To our knowledge, this work is the first CMOS switch operating from dc to millimeter-wave frequency with a miniature chip size.