CMOS-based power amplifiers and transmitters for Mm-wave applications

This paper provides a review of design techniques for mm-wave power amplifiers and integrated transmitters using CMOS technology. In order to achieve high power, transistor stacking, on-chip power combining, and spatial power combining (using combined amplifier and antenna arrays) are described. Output power up to 630 mW is demonstrated for a single CMOS chip coupled to a 2×2 antenna array at 45 GHz. Doherty amplifier design is reported to maximize efficiency in backoff. Designs which combine modulators and mixers with power amplifiers are also described, and external DPD linearization of transmitters to provide complex modulation patterns is reported.