60-GHz-Band CMOS MMIC Technology for High-Speed Wireless Personal Area Networks

This paper presents recent progress on 60-GHz-band MMIC developments based on standard 90-nm CMOS technology. For a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a simple noise model is employed to facilitate efficient design in the millimeter- wave range. For a power amplifier (PA), a reliability issue due to degradation of hot carrier injection should be carefully considered for large-signal operation. To maximize output power while ensuring sufficient lifetime, we have established PA design process including co-simulation technique. The developed LNA achieves a noise figure of 5.7 dB with 13-dB gain at 63 GHz. On the other hand, PA exhibits a saturated output power of 8.5 dBm with 15.2-dB linear gain at 60 GHz with a supply voltage as low as 0.7 V where sufficient lifetime is expected. Finally, transmitter and receiver front-end circuits are demonstrated for 2.6-Gbps QPSK operation.