A K-Band High-Voltage Four-Way Series-Bias Cascode Power Amplifier in 0.13 $\mu$ m CMOS

This letter reports a K-band high-voltage power amplifier delivering 100 mW output power in CMOS technology. The amplifier used series-bias of four cascode power cells to increase operating voltage and achieve high output power. The two-stage series-bias amplifier showed a maximum small-signal gain of 19.5 dB, an output power of 20 dBm, and a PAE of 12.4% at 21 GHz. The results of this study will be useful for realizing a fully integrated single-chip transceiver at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies.