Performance evaluation of broadband drivers for radio frequency applications

This paper presents enhanced versions of the two most common drivers used in radio frequency integrated circuits: the common-collector stage and the differential pair. The common-collector stage is extended to a totem pole stage and the differential pair to a multi-tanh structure. A key point is the direct comparison of small-signal and large signal measurement results between the standard architectures and enhanced versions in the range from 1GHz to 10GHz. To achieve this, an integrated circuit was manufactured in a 250nm SiGe BiCMOS process containing switchable versions of both drivers and their enhancements. Measurements prove the superior performance of the enhanced versions, showing an increase of dynamic range by 10 to 20dB.